Brief Candle: Three Plays

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Brief Candle: Three Plays brings together the most recent work of Sahitya Akademi award-winner Mahesh Dattani as he continues to explore subjects that needto be addressed but are relentlessly brushed under the carpet of middle-class morality—incest, gender bias and death. The title play is set in a hospital ward where terminally ill patients put up an energetic farce in memory of their friend who died of cancer. The blurring of lines between their romp and the events of their own lives leads to revelations that are both tragic and life-affirming. In the radio play The Girl Who Touched the Stars, Bhavna—now an astronaut ready to take off on a mission into outer space—reflects on her past in this moment of glory, only to confront the bitter truths she has tried to ignore all her life. The fragile fabric of familial relations is ripped apart in Thirty Days in September when memories of a traumatic past return to haunt a mother and her daughter. Playful and poignant, devastating and redemptive, these critically acclaimed plays lay bare the far-reaching consequences of the choices we make, confirming Dattani as one of India’s foremost dramatists.

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Mahesh Dattani is a playwright, screen writer, film-maker and stage director with several scripts and productions to his credit. As a writer, he was awarded the prestigious Sahitya Akademi award in 1998. He has directed and scripted critically acclaimed films like Mango Souffle and Morning Raga. His screenplays, along with his stage plays have been published by Penguin. Dattani is also a workshop facilitator for several writing and acting courses, having conducted workshops in many parts of the world, most notably at Portland State University in Oregon, USA. He has collaborated with international theatre companies like Border Crossings, most recently at Shanghai with Chinese, Swedish and English actors. He also writes scripts for BBC Radio 4. His current works include a stage adaptation of Paolo Coelho’s bestseller classic The Alchemist and also the script of Brief Candle, directed by Lillette Dubey.