‘Between You and Me Too’: Satire to address issue of sexual harassment

New Delhi, Jul 21 (PTI) A new play by veteran film and theatre artist Saleem Shah will objectively look at the issue of sexual harassment through the story of an “ordinary man” who is arrested on the charges of being a sexual predator.

Written by Mrinal Thakur and directed by Shah, the “Kafkaesque” comedy, “Between You and Me Too”, will be staged at Alliance Francaise here on July 30.

The story follows a banker who is “horrified to discover that he is being investigated on a sexual harassment charge”.

While his denials keep getting more vociferous, skeletons come tumbling out of the closet. As the clamour grows, he is arrested, only to be faced with a twist in the tale.

Talking about the play, Shah said the topic of the play will be relevant as long as social issues continue to be looked at from the perspective of “he said, she said”.

“It will remain apt as long as issues that need to be looked at with empathy, are looked at judgmentally. It also goes without saying that cases of wrongful complaints as well as ignored (often wilfully) complaints are continuing all around us,” Shah told PTI.

He added that while working on the play it was important to be “sensitive and emphatic”.

“We believe we have succeeded in doing so. It was also important not to be judgemental, which is what the plays message is. We also believe that for something to incite dialogue and provide food for thought (as some of our audiences said) it must share perspectives which it does,” he said.

The play features Vani Kumar, Jay Singh and Shah in central roles.