Department of English and M.E.L., Lucknow University, Lucknow, India.
Marathi Theater has an age-old tradition. Vijay Tendulkar is a leading dramatist of the Marathi avant-garde theater. His plays deal with the nature of the relationship between man and his environment as also man in his dealings as a social animal. His plays which have been translated into many languages are very popular since Tendulkar concerns himself with the day to day affairs of the middle class populace. Silence! The Court in Session, is an experimental drama wherein Tendulkar explores the viciousness that lurks beneath the outer superficial veneer of human nature. Benare, a young school teacher is comed and hunted by a group of her own mends while they are waiting to perform in the evening, at an old village hall. The trial which is a mock one, leads facades to crumble and reality and falsehood become mingled into one, revealing the malevolence of human nature that lurks beneath the surface. Tendulkar highlights the dichotomies that govern human nature, with regard to man's position in society and the morals involved.
