Subodh and Nandita greet the audience after staging Between The Lines at GD Birla Sabhagar on Sunday evening. Pictures by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Why do husbands always take the bigger piece of cake while wives go for the smaller? Why is it that the husband’s salary pays the bills and the wife’s is meant for extra benefits? Do husbands discuss things only to slip in the last word?

Home truths such as these and more surfaced on Saturday and Sunday evening at GD Birla Sabhagar through wit-laced wordplay, occasional laughs and heartfelt moments that defined Between The Lines, staged in association with Spandan and t2, marking on stage Nandita Das’s directorial and husband Subodh Maskara’s acting debut.

The one-hour-45-minute play is about Shekhar, a high-profile criminal lawyer married to Maya, also a lawyer who hasn’t been practising. The couple have a nine-year-old son, away in a hostel. Shekhar and Maya lead a happy and comfortable life till a court case arrives like a dark cloud in their lives putting them on opposite sides of the criminal trial and giving way to gritty, raw feelings that had gone unnoticed in their marriage of 10 years.

The fictional play that Nandita has etched out from many a real-life inspiration made it a fascinatingly familiar subject that had the audience sometimes chuckling and sometimes shifting in their seats when a truth hit home.

The stage designed by Nandita’s brother Siddhartha Das was neat and functional with soft translucent sheer curtain dividing the home into visible and partially invisible halves or benches alternating as drawing room and courtroom furniture.

Nandita and Subodh made smooth transitions from playing dual roles, or perhaps triple, in switching from being a real-life couple to a posh and confident husband and wife on-stage to a meek Kavita and a chauvinistic Mukesh, the Hindi-speaking couple on trial.

At the end of the two acts, Nandita and Subodh introduced their “Chhoti team” and greeted the packed auditorium with a winning smile.

“This play is about many firsts. Me directing a play for the first time and Subodh acting for the first time and our company’s first production. People say that after the 11th show it usually settles in but I feel that it’ll have to be the 50th show where I want to be. So thank you for being there for the preview!” smiled Nandita, who will soon be on her way to Bombay and Dhaka with Between The Lines.

Did you watch BTL? Tell t2@abp.in