The Bombay Plays
by Anosh Irani
The Matka King
In a story that pits human
nature against love and chance, a landscape of betrayal and redemption
comes to life in the red-light district of Bombay, India. One very powerful
eunuch, Top Rani, operates an illicit lottery through his brothel, and
when a gambler who is deeply in debt makes an unexpected wager, the
stakes become life and death. Can a fortune-teller and a ten-year-old
girl beat Top Rani at his own game?
“Anosh Irani has crafted
a story as black and seductive as a desert night.” —The Globe
and Mail
“Excellent characterization
and humour bring [this] cruel drama to life.” —The Vancouver
Sun
“…raunchy yet elegant…
an engaging exploration of the darker side of human nature.” —The
Westender
“Top Rani’s desire to understand
his sexuality is very powerful. And this is perhaps where east meets
west in Irani’s intriguing play.”
—Vancouver
Courier
Bombay Black
Apsara, Bombay’s most infamous
dancer, lives with her iron-willed mother Padma in an apartment by the
sea. Padma takes money from men so they may watch her daughter perform
a mesmerizing dance. Apsara’s extraordinary beauty and erotically
charged dancing cast a powerful spell over her wealthy and famous clientele.
One day, a mysterious blind man named Kamal visits for a private dance.
His secret link to their past threatens to change each of their lives
forever. At turns lyrical and brutal, Bombay Black charts the
seduction of Apsara by Kamal, and Padma’s violent enmity toward the
blind man and the secrets he holds.
Winner of 4 Dora Mavor Moore
Awards including: Outstanding New Play, Outstanding Set Design, Costume
Design, and Sound Design/Composition.
Nominations for Outstanding
Production and Lighting Design.
“Sensuous, lyrical, mysterious,
sordid, grotesque, romantic and highly emblematic...”
—The Globe
and Mail
“Pungent and lyrical and
sometimes witty. Line by line, Irani never hits a false note.” —National
Post
“Playwright Anosh Irani carefully
navigates between convincing casual conversation and rich lyricism…
a precarious balance between beautiful mythology and ugly realism, between
hope and despair.”
—Eye Weekly,
****
“Anosh Irani’s sultry,
spooky and surreal tale of thwarted love and bittersweet revenge…
beautifully captures the optimism of love against all odds.”
—NOW Magazine,
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