30 Days in September - Intensely Brilliant

By the time, you are done with the play; you will find some sort of shake in your brain. This terrific play will crawl into your mind and reawakens the bitter truths that can be found around in the same society we live in. Directed by Anup Baral, this play by Indian playwright Mahesh Dattani is adapted into Nepali by Aashant Sharma and Bal Bahadur Thapa.

It deals with the post traumatic stress disorder that Mala is suffering from because of the sexual abuse which she got by her own mama (uncle) during her vacation in September when she was 7 years old. Abuse continued every year and by when she was 13, she was used to it, moreover, she was willing to have sex more. This effect haunts her still at her thirty, society labeling her as characterless woman. Mala confronts her mother for why she did not prevent her from abuse but her mother always tells to forget the pain and prays to God, despite knowing the reality that Mala has faced. Deepak enters their life, and
tries to get things right as Mala has frequently told him that she cannot love him and their relationship has no future. Still after knowing the past, he loves Mala and helps her to overcome the stress. When Binay Mama comes to their apartment and they have a dinner together, Deepak approaches Mama in order to reveal the truth and his doubt. Afterwards, few secrets get unfolded, leaving the characters and audience struck.

The frequent news of rapes, incest, and women-violation are hovering on the media from very long. This sensitive subject has been wonderfully presented in the play. Director Anup Baral is very successful in executing the play brilliantly and delivering the right chords as intended to. The scene where Mala recalls her past with Binay Mama is very well performed; the setting right then was brilliant. During the climax, the scene of Binay Mama stabbing the doll with pins and Mala showing the pain was awesomely done.

Deeya Maskey as Mala is superb, so are Aruna Giri as mother and Roy Shrestha as Binay Mama. With the sudden change of expression from smile to tears, Deeya is just so natural. Body language, dialogues, expressions… she excels in her presentation of Mala. Aruna Giri is marvelous; the scene where she breaks down after spilling out her truth is splendid. She has completely sunk into the character. That very scene leaves all the audience shocked, it touches the heart and shakes the mind. I found her performance in that part one of the best acting I’ve seen. Roy Shrestha looks very convincing in his character. He has portrayed the evil character of Mama with such an ease and brilliance. Suraj Malla as Deepak is equally nice.

I liked that small scene in the restaurant where Mala thinks that a boy is staring at her breasts and Deepak goes to the boy for warning him. That scene shows the mental situation of Deeya but has a comic sense at the same time.

Set design (Bimal Subedi) is wonderful. Stage management, Lights, sounds are nice, and so is the use of props and video in narration.

The other thing this play delivers is that Love is the ultimate source of healing. Mala gets abused by a man and later gets support from, also, a man, who helps her and loves her after everything that happened.

I, well, went on the nice day as the playwright Mahesh Dattani himself was present in the show. During the interaction program after the play, one told that the play, by editing some scenes, should be shown to the young children at schools for it could spread the social awareness. (Note: Play is for above 16 years only) I agree on this thing that man said - This play needs to be shown to the young children, teachers, guardians and parents.

30 Days in September is well-executed intense play that can leave the mark on your brain for a long time.

Photo Courtesy: Facebook Timeline of Anup Baral

The play is being staged at Theatre Village, Tej Bhawan, Lazimpat, till February 26, 2015. ( 1 pm and 5 pm)