For many other playwrights like Irawati Karnik and Divya Jagadale, theatre gives them an opportunity to explore the joys of writing. “It’s a very personal thing,” says 25-year-old Karnik, who has dealt with the tricky terrain of personal relationships with humour in her seven Marathi plays, including Aaltoon Paaltoon, Balkadu and Vadani Kavala Gheta.

One comedy which has had a successful run since its debut at the Writers’ Bloc is The President is Coming by 31-year-old Anubhav Pal, who has also co-written Loins of Punjab Presents. A laugh riot of a play, The President is Coming is a story of a group of six Indians scrambling to shake hands with the US President. Pal, who had written plays like Chaos Theory, Out of Fashion, Life and Love and EBITDA earlier, is currently scripting one on the newspaper industry.

Theatre pundits are happy at the proscenium delights being offered by new dramatists. “I am very impressed with the content and quality of writing in theatre nowadays,” says playwright Mahesh Dattani. Rahul Da Cunha—whose Rage Productions organises Writers’ Bloc—agrees. “There is a pool of talented young playwrights in India,” he says.

But the dramatists who make a difference are the ones with a body of work, says Chetan Datar, Mumbai-based director. The number of such consistent writers is small though the community is growing. Moreover, not too many path-breaking plays are being written. “Only a few are willing to experiment and take risks. Others tread the tried and tested path,” says Da Cunha. Echoes Dattani, “Quite a few of them are caught up in the style of writing of Sixties’ Europe, especially the theatre of the absurd.”

... contd.