Why a Hyderabad-based group is going ahead with a play that’s facing a ban call
City-based theatre group Sutradhar is all set to stage a play that’s currently facing a ban call from certain community groups. The play, Agnes of God, landed in trouble earlier after a Mumbai-based group — the Catholic Secular Forum (CSF) — said its staging was “an attempt to make a fast buck at the cost of the Catholic faith”.
Mumbai-based theatre group Poor Box Productions was to stage the play on October 4 when as a precautionary measure they were asked for a halt on operations. Mahabanoo Kotwal, owner of Poor Box told media in Mumbai: “We booked the hall four months ago and on Monday, the management informed about the cancellation.”
In Hyderabad however, theatre veteran Vinay Varma says his group is going ahead with the play. “The play is beyond just religion. It deals with child sexual abuse too. When Agnes was a child, she was sexually abused and how that incident affects her later in life also forms integral part of the story.
Theatre is all about human emotions... religion just happens to be an incidental part of it,” Varma said. “We are not going to cancel the show. The story is much more beyond religion,” he maintained.
