Author: -

Abstract: »Situating Mahesh Dattani’s 30 Days in September within theatrical tradition of feminist plays in India, this article attempts to foreground the depiction of experiencing and witnessing trauma. Dattani’s work probes tangled attitudes in contemporary India towards communal differences, consumerism, gender discrimination, violence against women, gender roles, construction of identities, etc. Caught as they are, in a repressed world of trauma, the survivours of child sexual abuse and incest, occupy a liminal position in our society. Their voices are stifled and silenced by the patriarchal society. The issue of incest and child sexual abuse can be tackled from the perspective of psychological theories. It wounds the mind and destabilizes language, consciousness and perceptions. Dattani so develops the plot that all through the play, Mala lives with the haunting memories of her past. The witnessing of women’s bodily traumas and violence offered in the garish public space of the contemporary theatre as in Thirty Days in September herald the possibility of resistance and transformation.« (Source: Samyuktha)

Wikipedia: History of Asia: History of India | Literature: Indian literature / Mahesh Dattani | Sex and the law: Child sexual abuse