FAMILY DRAMAS

CYRUS MISTRY'S PLAYS IN DOONGAJI HOUSE PIVOT ON PLOT-DRIVEN CRISES AND REVELATIONS

- Ananda Lal

DOONGAJI HOUSE

Selected Plays

by Cyrus Mistry

ALEPH BOOK COMPANY 252 pages; ₹599

Unlike fiction or poetry (which Indians love to compose though it gets little coverage), our original drama in English has lain in the doldrums for several years. The spark that Mahesh Dattani’s 1950s-born generation ignited in the last two decades of the 20th century seems to have been snuffed out. Manjula Padmanabhan completed her last full-length play in 2015. Dattani’s output has decreased since he grew more involved in screen work. Only Gowri Ramnarayan continues regularly with her lyrical classical-based scripts. Among younger dramatists, Abhishek Majumdar has attracted attention for the conservative backlash provoked by his political activism.

Against this backdrop, we consider the new book by Cyrus Mistry, born in 1956, brother of the famed Rohinton. It collects three long plays, each separated by roughly 20 years.