One of the editors of An Anthology of Contemporary Bengali Plays, which is a collection of six plays written by thespian and politician Bratya Basu, writes in the introduction, “One of the reasons why Indian theatre has continued to remain on the margins of contemporary world theatre is its linguistic and cultural plurality.” There could not perhaps have been a better explanation for why it was so important to bring out an English translation of the writings of Bratya Basu, whose powerful plays written only in his mother tongue, Bengali, have, for at least two decades, awed audiences throughout Bengal with their poignant themes and iconoclastic messages.

The present collection of six is amongst the best of his oeuvre of over fifty original plays, written between the years 2000 and 2020. It has been noted that Basu is one of the rare theatre directors who has not staged adaptations of international works, not even Shakespeare or Brecht.

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If we begin with the last in terms of date, penned during the coronavirus pandemic, it is a revelation of the way that his originality and individuality, always latent in the way that he interpreted the mundane, has evolved. Love in the Times of Corona, written in April 2020 and translated by Mainak Banerjee, for instance, creates a catastrophic and chaotic, almost apocalyptic scenario that unfolds in a very familiar setting. And this is done casually, as though we are inured to its shock value.

The script is detailed, complete with stage directions. Scene one opens up to the “Drawing room of a middle-class family. A table, a sofa, etc. are placed downstage. A high platform upstage with a television frame on it. A PPE-clad newsreader (female) is seen reading the news on television. A suffocating moan is heard in the background. The newsreader continues to read.” And as though casually gliding into the most ordinary, the ensuing monologue leads us into a world that is surreal and horrific. “Newsreader (female) reads, ‘According to the latest reports, the total number of people alive in our country has come down to merely two lakhs thirty-five thousand. Only two lakhs thirty-five thousand people are surviving in all…..Crows, kites and vultures are seen to be flying above each street. In every locality dogs, foxes and other ferocious animals are roaming around to devour the innumerable dead bodies strewn across the streets.”

In hindsight, of course, the way that the pandemic would play out was not yet fully known, but the juxtaposition of the common with the sheer horrific has always been his forte in shaking up the status quo and disturbing the flow of thought.

Interestingly, Basu’s capacity for satiric humour even as he focuses his critical eyes on the twisted ways that things happen in normal life, is evident throughout the selected plays.

This anthology, comprising plays that were penned over a period of time spanning two decades, provides us with a glimpse into the evolving mind of the man whose work can be considered a documentary interpretation, if not evidence, of a period of history that witnessed vast changes in political, social, economic, and cultural terms.

Divided into three broad categories, the plays are placed under the broad headings. The first, “Poignant Challenges, Soulful Remorse” examines power in Indian politics, religion and family. The second, “(In)visible Boundaries, (Un)democratic Choices”, explores the relationship between democracy, national identity and the role of women in intergenerational political struggles. And the third, “Intimately Political, Politically Intimate”, navigates queer identity, mental health, and the ‘fabulation’ of modern Bengali life in twenty-first century India.

The other five plays, Penitence, The Final Night, Creusa, The Queen, The Black Hole and Who? all give us glimpses into the world of Bratya Basu’s slightly disturbing take, if one could phrase it that way, of life’s happenings over a period of flowing time.

Edited by Nandita Banerjee Dhawan and Sam Kolodezh and translated by Mainak Banerjee and Arnab Banerjee, the anthology is published by Bloomsbury Academics.