A Delhi based playwright writing about
the significance of the most trivial,
and the triviality of the most significant.
Plays that have been staged
Since the premiere of my first play in 2018, there have been over 110 performances (as of July 2024) of several of my plays in 20 cities in the world in nearly 50 venues directed by more than a dozen renowned directors and their theatre groups. These plays were also staged in Natya Kumbh, a theatre festival exclusively of my plays that was held in 2023 in Delhi.
Akbar The Great Nahin Rahe
Genre : Comedy
Language : English, Hindi
Duration : 90 Minutes
Cast : 8 - 12
When Akbar is asked to vacate his quarters in 'Lutyen's Swarg' because he is no longer considered 'The Great,' but just another Muslim foreign invader, he sets off to fight for his legacy with help from other 'Greats' like Ashoka, Alexander and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
His case is finally fought successfully by a loud-mouthed media 'moghul,' but a chance meeting with Maharana Pratap reveals the futility of his pursuit.
Pashmina
Genre : Drama
Language : Hindi
Duration : 70 Minutes
Cast : 8 - 12
Amar and Vibha Saxena, a middle-class couple, after much dithering, finally set out for a vacation to Kashmir. They are searching for a Pashmina shawl. A search which is hijacked by a brash couple from Delhi.
The foursome ends up finding a great deal at a small shawl seller's shop. However, the shawl seller and the Saxenas share more that the sale. They share the sorrow of dealing with the loss of a child.
Between You & Me Too
Genre : Satire
Language : English (with some Hindi)
Duration : 70 Minutes
Cast : 3 - 4
Hidden behind words like MeToo and HeToo. Consent and Coercion. Gender and ‘Beyond Gender.’ And all the ‘isms’ that pervade our world, lies the world of Sahil Ramesh Kukreja. A witty, penetrating Satire on his accidental and ‘not so accidental’ interactions with women in today’s time. Is he an ‘Aggressor’ or a ‘Victim’ in this frequently played Mating-Game?
Didi I.A.S.
Genre : Comedy, Satire
Language : English, Hindi
Duration : 80 Minutes
Cast : 8 - 10
What happens when a Minister attempts to reign in dissenting artists? His I.A.S. comes to the rescue by creating another I.A.S. (Indian Artistic Service) so that artists can be safely ensconced in Government jobs and made to toe the official line. Key posts are filled with prominent artists like Betabh B, Didi and Sugar Singh to motivate others. All is well and art is under control, until a child raises her voice...
Paanch Rupaiya Baarah Aana
Genre : Comedy, Satire
Language : Hindi (with some English)
Duration : 45 Minutes
Cast : 3 - 4
The play is about a TV reporter at a farmers’ rally, enquiring why they get Rs. 5/kg of tomatoes that sell for Rs. 30/kg in cities. A satire follows on how middlemen, local leaders, experts and feudal lords make merry while agriculturalists suffer. In terms of theatrical style, we call it a street play in a proscenium.
Lal Quile Ka Aakhri Muqadma
Genre : Drama
Language : English, Hindi
Duration : 60 Minutes
Cast : 5 + Singing Chorus
The play is an imagination of the conversations between the trio of Gen., Shahnawaz Khan, Col. Prem Kumar Sehgal and Col. Gurbakhsh Singh, the trio who faced the INA trials in 1945, the last such public trial to be conducted at the Red Fort as they listen to Mr. Bhulabhai J. Shah’s speech in their defence that became a “key moment in the elaboration of an anticolonial critique of international law in India.”
Teen Tumhari Taraf
Genre : Satire
Language : Hindi
Duration : 90 Minutes
Cast : 8 - 25
Written with theatre workshops in mind, the play wades through several familiar characters. The harried doctor. The worried patient. Hypochondriacs. The ‘gym’ folk. The frustrated receptionist. The overbearing saas. The nervous groom. The brash guests. The sulking phupha. Housing society office bearers. Women’s rights activists (supposedly). Pseudo artists and their obsequious ‘yes men.’ All connected through their hypocrisy.
God's Lioness?
Genre : Drama
Language : English
Duration : 70 Minutes
Cast : 9 - 10
A fictional retelling of Draupadi’s story through a confrontation between her and Kunti at the end of the Mahabharata. The plot is inspired by folklore from Maharashtra and Bengal which speak of Draupadi’s love for Karna whom she rejects on Keshav’s advice. When her vengeance is done and all is revealed, the play ends with a defiant Draupadi questioning the Universe why it has a problem with women and their choices.
Plays that have been published
12 Original plays have been published in 4 books as of July 2024 since the first collection was published in 2018. These publications are available online to be purchased, consumed and if a group wishes to produce any of these plays, they can write to me at playwrighmrinal@gmail.com to collaborate.
List of Published Plays
Akbar The Great Nahin Rahe
Between You & Me Too
Dev Divya Aur Duniya
Didi I.A.S.
God's Lioness?
Lalaji Ne School Banaya Hai
Paanch Rupaiya Baarah Aana
Pashmina
Satya Shiv Sundar
Teen Tumhari Taraf
The Death Penalty
2063 : A Reunion
Natya Kumbh - Collected Plays
Natya Kumbh, this book of nine collected plays, including Akbar The Great Nahin Rahe, 2063 A Reunion, The Death Penalty, Pashmina and many more are the definitive oeuvre of the playwright. These are plays that deal with these conflicts that are shaping our world. The world of playwrightmrinal.
TriAaj
TRI-AAJ, as the name suggests, has three plays that capture issues that we face today, through the inimitably sardonic lens that the playwright is known to use. It features, Teen Tumhari Taraf a series of sketches that intertwines several denizens of middle-class urban India. who are connected through a common thread of hypocrisy. The Death Penalty is a play for an exclusively adult audience as it deals with the sensitive issue of child rape and the obstacles in the fight against this crime.
2 Plays
Two plays that matter, on what matters. Satya Shiv Sundar questions the economic and business models of technology majors from the perspective of those that have been left behind. It is a hostage drama that builds its tension in the same way the march of technology does. It ends with the naivety of hope, but with a call that is not unprecedented. The book also reprints the powerful work - The Death Penalty
2 Plays on DISAGREEING WITHOUT BEING DISAGEEABLE
This book features two plays that tell two stories of dissent and change. Didi I.A.S. is about a bureaucratic conspiracy to curb anti – establishment art by creating an Indian Artistic Service. But even when all artistic opposition has been mollified and institutionalised, an innocent voice breaks free. In Lalaji Ne School Banaya Hai a nationalist in British India fights for the common man’s right to give his children an education reserved thus far for the privileged and princely class.
Plays that are yet to be staged
These are plays whose scripts are ready to be taken onto the floor. The scripts are copyright protected by being published and / or registered with the SWA of India. A brief summary is given below. Directors / producers or groups interested in the full scripts basis the summaries below can write to me at playwrightmrinal@gmail.com for a reading to take it further.
The Death Penalty
A Hindi - English Drama with a cast of 6 - 12. It is a play for an adult audience. The death penalty has been introduced for child rape. The macabre text is a play within a play of a theatre group's reaction to the new law, until a twist poses more questions for the audience.
Satya Shiv Sundar
A hostage drama in English with a cast of 6 - 8 actors in which Satya, Shiv and Sundar; CEOs of the world’s largest software, hardware and internet and search firms, are taken hostage by a farmer’s son, who gets them to exchange all their wealth for a plate of rice – after all, technology can’t be eaten.
2063 : A Reunion
English Drama for a cast of 8 - 12.
The world in 2063 is a world without work. Everything is done by machines running on high-speed quantum computing driven artificial intelligence (AI).
A group of friends born in 2020 have their school reunion. The theme of the play is how the march of technology diminishes our humanity. The motley group of friends in the play have lost the purpose that comes from having work to do. But in their friendship, they regain a semblance of what it is to be human.
Dev Divya Aur Duniya
English Drama with a cast of two.
Dev is a married man having an affair with Divya, his colleague and how their illicit relationship breaks down, due to the inherent nature of their romance. The play is an exploration of tabooed relationships and how they crumble. How passion stokes its way to love. How great love brings desire, possessiveness and jealousy as its handmaidens. And how they corrode the harmony and humanity of two people in love; irrespective of their gender or sexual orientation.
Directors, Groups & Productions
I have been fortunate to have my plays produced and directed by some exceptionally gifted, committed and kind directors of Hindi, English and Urdu theatre. Their support has always elevated the text, their innovations and additions have led to memorable performances. Some posters that reminisce such memorable productions are being shared.
Directors & Groups who have staged my plays.
Sajida Saji for Treasure Art Association and Rangakarmee
Dr. M. Sayeed Alam, Pierrot's Troupe
Saleem Shah, Daydreamers Foundation
Rasika Agashe, Being Association
Zafer Mohiuddin, Kathputliyaan Theatre Group
Amar Sah, Bela Theatre Karwaan
Kuljeet Singh, Atelier Theatre
Sumita Mukherjee, E - Sanskriti
Soti RPD, MLR Theatre Foundation
Pinaki Datta, Epic Actors Studio
Natya Kumbh
Natya Kumbh is a theatre festival exclusively of plays written by me. Conceived by Vibgyor Theatre, the first edition was held at LTG Auditorium, Mandi House, Delhi in June 2023. Eight plays of mine were presented by six directors from all over the country. The three-day festival saw Housefull audiences in attendance. The plan is to make this at least a biennial event and take it to other cities in India.
The productions
Groups from Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Aligarh staged 9 shows of eight different plays.
The promotions
Natya Kumbh was heavily promoted through traditional means as well as on social media, radio and hoardings. It helped garner an audience of 2000+ theatre lovers at the venue.
The venue
The auditorium was decorated as a celebration of the plays to welcome the audiences. One of the things the organisers and groups were most happy about was the profusion of first-time theatre goers to the festival, drawn in their own words to "the novelty of watching plays of different types written by one writer."
Book launch
The book of collected plays, also titled Natya Kumbh was launched at the festival.
Housefull Appreciative Audiences