Makarand Sathe’s plays use myth, time and memory to expose the crises of modern life
In Exit and Other Plays, Sathe offers an insight into the act of producing an imagination that helps read a play
Makarand Sathe’s In Exit and Other Plays. (Written by Sundar Sarrukai)
Reading plays is always a challenge. Unlike other genres, the play demands more than just reading; it demands an imagination to ‘see’ the play on stage. In Exit and Other Plays, playwright Makarand Sathe offers exactly that — an insight into the production of an imagination that allows one to read plays as more than just political, philosophical or comic texts.
This ‘staging of reading’ produces a new world that can alert us to what our real world hides. Theatre produces a sense of time that forces us to listen, see and feel what everyday life masks. Reading Sathe’s plays makes us reflect on these questions, not merely as an intellectual exercise but as something that can jar our sensibilities.
The collection features translations of six of Sathe’s plays. They deal with a variety of topics but all of them draw upon mythical characters to comment on contemporary life. Through figures such as Narada and Krishna among others, he mines our cultural memories to provide a framework to see our daily lives.
A depiction of the battle between Duryodhana and Bhima in Razmnama
Ashwathama and Maruti
Take Four Billion Amnesiacs, which deals with time as money, a theme often used in Hollywood films as well. Sathe, however, explores the idea through the characters of Ashwathama and Maruti, while touching upon the ideas of the ‘business of time’ and immortality.
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