Theatre
In my theatre work, which include traditional text-based plays, musical plays, movement pieces, as well as devised theatre, I find myself exploring the tensions between the body and the text. My plays in English have, so far, dealt with themes of colonial oppression recounted in abstracted, allegorical style. My plays in Gujarati, often laced with musicality and rooted in the medieval folk form of Bhavai and Akhyan, have focused on exploring themes of love, sexuality, nationalism, and caste-based oppression.
Selected Plays
Anchors
A ship comes from a distant land to a new country, but the law of the new country refuses them permission to land. The ship remains stranded in the port for six weeks, with no food or supplies for the passengers.
Execution
A movement piece that dives deep into the complex themes of colonial mimicry and the fundamental questions surrounding the human inclination to emulate others.
Saheb No Coat
A Gujarati musical that recounts the story of Bagubai, a tailor, on a quest to get the rightful compensation for the coat she tailored for a convict who is abducted by the state and is out of reach.
Soaring Sixes
A musical featuring the stories of Jam Ranjit Singh and Palwankar Baloo, two of the greatest cricketers from colonial India who came from opposite ends of society.
Disdained
Amidst the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, four estranged friends reunite on a Zoom call during lockdown to mourn the passing of their childhood friend, Mutthu.
Hopscotch
Hopscotch is a devised play, inspired by stories of survivors of the residential schools in Canada.
Boundaries
An allegorical two-hander where the changing power dynamic between the characters prompt questions of colonialism and racism in the context of shifting global boundaries and national relations.
Ouroboros
A two-hander that delves into the complexities of love and marriage. It tells the story of a couple who engages in a role-playing game until it takes a dark, dangerous turn.
Vesha
Rooted in the Gujarati folk tradition of Bhavai, Vesha is the story of a conflict between two heads of a Bhavai troupe, a father and a son.