Me and My Plays

Mahesh Dattani's work has shaped contemporary English theatre in India over the past twenty-five years, boldly exploring themes like homosexuality, religious fanaticism, child sexual abuse and gender bias while also raising the bar for theatrical innovation. In Me and My Plays, he eloquently reflects on the highs and lows of surviving in a system largely indifferent to professional theatre. Included in this edition are Where Did I Leave My Purdah?, which explores the life and travails of Nazia, a feisty actress now in her eighties, who is forced to confront her past demons when she attempts to stage a comeback, and The Big Fat City, a black comedy about the residents of an apartment complex in Mumbai who unwittingly become accomplices to a murder. Intense and hard-hitting, both plays deal with the lies that simmer beneath the surface of our daily lives.