A collection of two plays by Indian playwright Satish Alekar.
Satish Alekar is widely considered one of the most progressive and influential playwrights in modern Indian theatre. This volume brings together two of Alekar’s plays written over half a century apart, The Grand Exit and A Conversation with Dolly .
In The Grand Exit , written in Marathi in 1974, a dead man insists on being cremated in an old crematorium that will soon be privatized. In this irreverent masterpiece, father and son confront the mundane to honor the former’s final wish. A Conversation with Dolly is the most contemporary of Alekar’s plays, and his first to be published before it has been performed. In this play, an old man finds himself locked down during the COVID-19 pandemic, surrounded by Amazon boxes, talking and listening to his devoted nurse Dolly. Both plays are followed by interviews with the playwright which shed light on the origins and design of Alekar’s dramaturgical genius.
If you loved Waiting for Godot, read this book. If you don't understand the world anymore and need more books to sit with the uncomfortable, read this book. If you want to wonder how exactly theatre and technology meet, read this book. If you are looking for books on dealing with whatever the hell the pandemic was, read this book.
"This nifty volume of plays collects two of Alekar’s works, “Mahanirvan” and “Thakishi Samvad”, written forty-six years apart—Born in 1949, Satish Vasant Alekar is a Marathi playwright, actor, theatre director. He was a founding member of the Theatre Academy of Pune and is well-known plays such as for Mahapoor, Begum Barve, Atirekee, and Pidhijat. He is considered among the most significant playwrights in modern Marathi and Indian theatre, along with Mahesh Elkunchwar and Vijay Tendulkar, and lately, he has come to be recognised for his acting in Marathi and Hindi feature films."