City Plays: Party - Avinash - Lights Out

by Mahesh Elkunchwar (Contributor), Shanta Gokhale (Contributor), Manjula Padmanabhan (Contributor)

Three plays in the naturalistic mode, set within the four walls of a city apartment, throwing people into close contact, relationships unravelling under pressure, the moment of crisis in each case precipitated by an absent presence who is never seen on stage. Intense human dramas, each one, reflecting the claustrophobic lives of their urban characters.

190 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Mahesh Elkunchwar is an Marathi playwright, screenplay writer with more than 20 plays to his name, in addition to his theoretical writings, critical works, and his active work in India's Parallel Cinema as actor and screenwriter. Today along with Vijay Tendulkar, he is credited as one of the most influential and progressive playwrights not just in Marathi theatre, but also in Indian theatre. In 2014, he was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, the highest honour in performing arts in India.

Considered a successor to Vijay Tendulkar, Elkunchwar's plays are written in Marathi. The plays have been subsequently translated into multiple Indian and Western languages (including English, French and German).

Reviews

[Marcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each of the three plays in this volume are intriguing in different ways, perhaps more for sociological reasons than theatrical ones. I picked up this book because I wanted to find good, solid plays by women and this anthology contains two--both of which are interesting realistic plays set in modern India. All of the plays are rather dark with heavy themes like rape and alcoholism so they are not ideally suited to a school-age audience.

[Rakesh M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read the Lights Out Play, it brings out the inaction, cowardice of people as they are witnessing crime.
Crime happens at two levels, physical and mental, how the second one impacts not just the victim of crime but everyone else is highlighted brilliantly.

[Deepti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of India's contemporary playwrights. A quick look into what issues are important to modern middle-class India.