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    Sultans of the Street
    Sultans of the Street
    Sultans of the Street
    Ebook178 pages58 minutes

    Sultans of the Street

    By Anusree Roy

    ()

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    About this ebook

    When young orphans Mala and Chun Chun encounter brothers Prakash and Ojha on the busy streets of Kolkata, they are immediately at odds. The brothers come from a lower-middle-class family and spend their time flying kites instead of attending class, while Mala and Chun Chun can only dream of going to school, a goal Aunty promises will be fulfilled if they beg for money from passersby. After a petty fruit-stall heist lands Ojha in Aunty’s cunning hands, the brothers are blackmailed into begging alongside Mala and Chun Chun, forcing the children to interact. Though they find each other nuisances at first, the kids soon realize their strength in numbers as Aunty’s scheming is slowly revealed.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPlaywrights Canada Press
    Release dateApr 25, 2016
    ISBN9781770915251
    Sultans of the Street
    Author

    Anusree Roy

    Anusree Roy is a Governor General’s Literary Award–nominated writer and actor whose work has premiered internationally. Her plays include Trident Moon, Sultans of the Street, Brothel #9, Roshni, Letters to my Grandma, Little Pretty and The Exceptional, and Pyaasa. Her plays and performances have won her four Dora Mavor Moore Awards along with multiple nominations. She is the recipient of the KM Hunter Artist Award, the RBC Emerging Artist Award, and the Carol Bolt Award, was named as a protégé of the Siminovitch Prize, and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. She lives in Toronto.

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      Book preview

      Sultans of the Street - Anusree Roy

      Contents

      Production History

      Punctuation and Staging Notes

      Costume Notes

      Characters

      Setting

      Scene 1.

      Scene 2.

      Scene 3.

      Scene 4.

      Scene 5.

      Scene 6.

      Scene 7.

      Scene 8.

      Scene 9.

      Acknowledgements

      About the Author

      Copyright

      This play is dedicated to my mother, Keya Roy,

      and to Allen MacInnis and Stephen Colella.

      Thank you for planting the seeds.

      Sultans of the Street was first produced by Young People’s Theatre on their mainstage in Toronto from April 28 to May 15, 2014. The play featured the following cast and creative team:

      Punctuation and Staging Notes

      Em dashes ( — ) at the end of a sentence indicate the dialogue being cut off by the following character.

      A forward slash ( / ) indicates where the following character should begin speaking, overlapping the remaining dialogue after the slash.

      The same actor can play Aunty, the pao-bhaji wallah, the Moustache Man, and the street people.

      None of the characters in the play will stutter to mimic Ojha.

      Costume Notes

      Shiva: His hair is adorned with a crescent moon. He carries a trident, has a snake coiled around his neck, and brandishes a damaru (a small drum) and a rudraksha (prayer beads).

      Parvati: Holds a blue and a red lotus in each of her extra hands. Parvati’s extra hands are not perfect. In fact, the more tattered and patched together they are the better. One arm should be shorter than the other.

      Krishna: Wears a peacock feather on his head and carries a flute. His clothes are dirty like the street kids’.

      Radha: Wears a red flower on her head. Her clothes are dirty like the street kids’.

      Prakash and Ojha are from a lower-middle-class family. Although they are of a higher class and caste than the other two kids, they are still lower-class, as is Aunty.

      All accessories should be broken down and look very used.

      Characters

      Prakash: Male. Twelve years old.

      Ojha: Male. Ten years old. Stutters.

      Mala: Female. Ten years old.

      Chun Chun: Male. Seven years old.

      Aunty: Mid-forties. She has a slight limp.

      Pao-bhaji wallah: He is a seven-hundred-year-old wise man, but has the energy of a fifteen-year-old boy. He has a nasal voice and a massive colourful cloth wrapped around his head. He shoves/hides the money he makes in the folds of this cloth.

      Moustache Man: A uniformed man with a well-oiled, GIANT moustache. He holds a fat stick in one hand and has a whistle in his mouth.

      The various people on the street.

      Setting

      Kolkata, India. The present.

      Scene 1.

      Two boys in school uniforms are flying kites. They appear to be from lower-middle-class families. They are highly competitive with each other.

      PRAKASH

      OIE, MOVE. MOVE, OJHA, MOVE. DON’T CUT MY KITE LINE—

      OJHA

      CUT. CUT. CUT. I AM HELPING—

      PRAKASH

      NO YOU’RE NOT! Move your kite away from mine—

      OJHA pushes PRAKASH to distract him.

      OJHA

      Prakash, how will you win if you’re not prepared to fight?!

      PRAKASH

      I WILL WIN! I SAID DON’T CUT ME—

      OJHA

      You need to be ready when the competition boys try to cut you!

      PRAKASH

      If you cut me I’ll need a new kite! STOP IT! MOVE!—

      OJHA

      I AM A KITE MONSTER! EAT! EAT! EAT—

      PRAKASH

      I have very little pocket money left—

      OJHA

      Then get a job at the dirty kite factory like those really poor kids do—

      PRAKASH

      Stop it—

      OJHA

      CUT CUT CUT—

      PRAKASH

      Don’t, I said—

      OJHA cuts PRAKASH’s kite.

      OJHA

      KITE MONSTER WINS!

      Frustrated, PRAKASH decides to chase OJHA.

      PRAKASH

      (overlapping) GET HERE! I WILL TEAR YOUR KITE.

      He looks up to see that his kite is flying away in the wind.

      LOOK, IT KEEPS FLYING AWAY! NOW ALL MY SAVINGS WILL HAVE TO GO ON A NEW ONE! JUST YOU WAIT, I WILL NEVER HELP YOU WITH HOMEWORK. COME BACK HERE!

      OJHA

      (overlapping) I WAS HELPING! I WAS HELPING! KITE MONSTER. I AM THE KITE MONSTER! ME! I WON! I WON! I WON! NO ONE BEATS THE MONSTER! NO ONE TOUCHES THE MONSTER! NO ONE BEATS THE MONSTER! NO ONE TOUCHES THE MONSTER!

      Suddenly PRAKASH notices something off stage. He stops.

      PRAKASH

      Shh . . . stop shouting. Look. It’s that lady. She is back again.

      OJHA stops. Quietly they observe something off stage.

      OJHA

      Is it her again?

      PRAKASH

      (whispering) Yes. That’s what I just said. Don’t speak that loud.

      OJHA

      (whispering) She is with those God kids again—

      PRAKASH

      (whispering) Shh . . .

      OJHA

      (whispering) Why do they dress like the same God each day?

      PRAKASH

      (whispering) I don’t know why—

      OJHA

      (whispering) Can we talk to them—

      PRAKASH

      (whispering) Shh.

      Pause.

      OJHA

      (whispering) What if she catches us and tells—

      PRAKASH

      (whispering) Why would she catch us? She doesn’t even know us! Stop. Talking.

      They both stare.

      OJHA

      (whispering) Look! Again. She is taking all their money again—

      PRAKASH

      (whispering) I know. I can see that. Stop talking, Ojha—

      Flute sounds can be heard.

      OJHA

      (whispering) Let’s leave—

      PRAKASH

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