The play, written in 1983 by Mahesh Elkunchwar, vividly captures the gradual decline of the Wada culture in Maharashtra, unable to stand the test of time and the social change in the world beyond. Wada means an old, ancestral country house which is the prime leitmotif in the play, revealing the skeletons of a culture, stuck in time. The Wada insularity is a product of the large joint family with its hierarchic patriarchy that holds the tensions in check under a fragile pretence of authority. The crisis brought forth in this intense play is more than a family crisis — it is a crisis of traditional culture against commercial or consumer culture. As playwright Elkunchwar says, “Wada is not a simple family drama, it is more than that, a document of social change, political change.” Translated in Hindi from Marathi by Vasant Dev and designed and directed by Kunal Padhi, the cast of this Padatik production includes Usha Kiran, Chirag Bareah, Sheena Chohan, Namrata Pitalia, Rajesh Bajpai, Rina Banerjee, Dilip Dave, Hena Parvez, Bhargav Kaushik and Vivek Bothra.

When: Today at 6.30 pm

Where: Academy of Fine Arts