Counter Offence

by Rahul Varma

What started as a case of wife abuse between an Iranian man and his Indian wife suddenly becomes a case of police racism and brutality when the abuser is found murdered and a crusading anti-racist with his own agenda enters the picture.

Genres: Plays, Drama

103 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1997

Reviews

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Counter Offence is not fun. There is little if anything to like in any of the characters, but it's the flaws that make them -- and Rahul Varma's play -- compelling. Their biases are the basis of the play's conflict (which just happens to be a murder mystery), and each character is both perpetrator and victim. We're not talking Murder on the Orient Express guilt, more like The Blue Hotel guilt, but they are all guilty in their own ways, and none of them is likeable. They are, however, mostly redeemable, which means that something beautiful is being done by Varma. He is asking us to look past our own biases and seek out the redemptive qualities in others, to embrace forgiveness, to see each other and all our situations in a sympathetic light. Yet he does it in a way that isn't flowery or saccharine. Counter Offence deals with ugly people in ugly situations being ugly. You have to look hard for the beauty Varma embeds, but if you are open to it, it is there.

[Vishesh Abeyratne · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of Rahul Varma's best plays (Counter Offence, Bhopal, Truth and Treason, State of Denial) refuse to settle for easy answers. Through ruthless examinations of power politics they dare us to be alert, to be vigilant, to challenge and question the society in which we live. You always leave the theatre a little bit smarter and a little bit more skeptical of institutions - and thus a little bit wiser.
To me, Counter Offence is the strongest of these works. I would have given anything to have seen the reactions of the audience at its 1996 premiere in Montreal. The dramatic elegance of its narrative as it unfolds in the form of a murder mystery, the frustrating contradictions present in every one of its characters, and its clear-eyed depiction of lateral violence and the devastating consequences of domestic abuse all work to ensure that its relevance will continue into the 21st century. It is a great Canadian play that changed the theatrical landscape of our country forever, and it deserves to be recognized as such.