A seemingly unprovoked act of violence by Sawar Ramchandra is the pivot around which the plot turns in Swadesh Deepak’s now classic Court Martial. A disturbing tale of caste inequality is told here with the deeply hierarchical world of the army as its setting. With its crisp dialogue and unrelenting social critique, the play is as engrossing and relevant today as when it first appeared.

In a nameless ‘backward area’, the journalist Apoorva, in The Saddest Poem Ever Written, is committed to resisting social injustice. Her battle against the sadistic zamindar and his cunning wife and ruthless policemen will put her in a position where she’ll be forced to choose between love and her revolutionary cause.

Rajat, the stage actor in Kaal Kothri, must choose too—between a salaried job and the theatre, which offers fulfilment to the artist but a dark future for his family. Ideals meet reality in the world of arts as Rajat must deal with his troubled life at home, an ailing playwright snubbed for being too utopian, and a sacntimonious civil servant he must bootlick.

Brought together here are brilliant translations of three of the most celebrated and timeless plays of one of the finest and most radical playwrights of our time.