A full house for spoof on Mayawati

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The performances were shoddy, actors lacked finesse and the production was amateurish. Yet it raised laughs, applause and the reference to the recent events were lapped up by the audience.

My Sandal, a play that was finally staged on Monday night after being banned three months ago, was a spoof on former chief minister Mayawati and her eccentric ways.

Though the play was set in Mayagarh, a mythical kingdom that existed 500 years ago, the relevance to the recent Mayawati regime was more than obvious. Mayagarh is ruled by Princess Maya who happens to be the lone woman in the kingdom. The princess owns a pet elephant whom she is rather fond of.

The princess has ministers who are corrupt and cunning and keep her in good humour to get their way in running the kingdom. On one of her birthdays, the ministers gift her a pair of sandals made of gold and imported from an Arab country.

One day, the pet elephant, who is in the habit of eating gold, silver and pearls, gobbles up the gold sandals. The elephant suffers pangs of pain and the princess is upset. The local doctor is called in to treat the elephant and he gives him a dose of laxatives. The elephant begins to throw out all that he has eaten in the recent time, including the sandals.

As the scams tumble out in his excreta, the people are shocked to find that secret of murders, scams and corruption are falling out in the open. The princess gets the doctor murdered but it is already too late. The people of Mayagarh have risen in revolt and the princess is dethroned.

The play was banned by the Mayawati government in January and its subject evoked a great deal of curiosity among the theatre-goers. The play opened on Monday night to a full house and despite the fact that it lacked above average production values, the audience enjoyed every moment. The whistles, the comments from the audience indicated that they could relate the acts in the play to the events in the Mayawati regime.

Mukesh Varma, who wrote and directed the play, admitted that the ban publicity had helped the play get the audience. “It was meant to be a political satire and I am happy that the people got the message loud and clear,” he said.