A Tribute to Datar
Chetan Datar’s Ek Madhavbaug is not only a playabout unconditional love and acceptance; it also has one of the best roles created for a mature actress. (Revathy has performed an English version.)
When the play was first written, there wasn’t such a glut of writing on gay issues, nor was there so much sympathetic coverage in the mainstream media. The play was a plea for understanding alternative sexuality, both from the point of view of a young gay man, who is tormented by the “why me?” question till he is able to come to terms with himself, and that of his mother who discovers her son’s hidden life suddenly when she gets an unpleasant phone call. The actress who plays the mother stars by ‘clarifying’that it has nothing to do with her, but by the end of it, she is willing to do battle with the playwright, over the young man committing suicide. Through the device of the actresses on stage playing the character of an actress doing the part of the mother, Datar managed to slide in multiple points of view.
The mother, who is first shocked by the revelation and wonders if it was somehow her fault, is then given a diary, by the son, and through it, she understands what he went through, and the diary in the form of letters to her, is his plea for her support.
After over a decade, Ek Madhavbaug (the address of a middle class building in conservative Shivaji Park) it remains the best and most complete play, written in India, about the gay issue; not surprisingly, the Humsafar Trust revived it, and after a series of readings, now have a full-fledged production in Hindi, performed by Mona Ambegaonkar (who also translated it with Vivek Anand), and directed by Vijay Kenkre.
It is a poignant and gently provocative (the way Datar chided religion interfering with the personal) piece of writing, and Mona Ambegaonkar performed it with the passion and emotional involvement that it demanded.
Chetan Datar’s Ek Madhavbaug is not only a playabout unconditional love and acceptance; it also has one of the best roles created for a mature actress. (Revathy has performed an English version.)
When the play was first written, there wasn’t such a glut of writing on gay issues, nor was there so much sympathetic coverage in the mainstream media. The play was a plea for understanding alternative sexuality, both from the point of view of a young gay man, who is tormented by the “why me?” question till he is able to come to terms with himself, and that of his mother who discovers her son’s hidden life suddenly when she gets an unpleasant phone call. The actress who plays the mother stars by ‘clarifying’that it has nothing to do with her, but by the end of it, she is willing to do battle with the playwright, over the young man committing suicide. Through the device of the actresses on stage playing the character of an actress doing the part of the mother, Datar managed to slide in multiple points of view.
The mother, who is first shocked by the revelation and wonders if it was somehow her fault, is then given a diary, by the son, and through it, she understands what he went through, and the diary in the form of letters to her, is his plea for her support.
After over a decade, Ek Madhavbaug (the address of a middle class building in conservative Shivaji Park) it remains the best and most complete play, written in India, about the gay issue; not surprisingly, the Humsafar Trust revived it, and after a series of readings, now have a full-fledged production in Hindi, performed by Mona Ambegaonkar (who also translated it with Vivek Anand), and directed by Vijay Kenkre.
It is a poignant and gently provocative (the way Datar chided religion interfering with the personal) piece of writing, and Mona Ambegaonkar performed it with the passion and emotional involvement that it demanded.
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