Kaahini by Maya Chowdhry

"A highly original yet thoroughly accessible insight into what it means to be young, Asian and British. Filled with the powerful and contradictory emotions of adolescence, Kaahini is brightly coloured, full of warmth and feeling, and shot through with the darker threads of frustration and anger at the inflexible and inexplicable adult world. This play, for all its seemingly unfamiliar Asian context, speaks directly to the widest possible audience: anyone with a mother, father, son, daughter, friend or lover will find much to challenge and inspire them here."
Hugh Hodgart, Head of Acting at RSAMD, Glasgow

Customer review

"Maya Chowdhry's Kaahini (literally 'false'), is a sharp, challenging play which should be enthusiastically received by Scottish pupils and students of Drama.
It explores Asian culture, sexual identity, the difficulties of growing up and the pressures of family life.
It must be said it has an improbable premise but it is a measure of the play's subtlety that an audience will go with the characters through a plot firmly based in the truth of the relationships.
'Esha' is a 16-year-old 'boy' who is obsessive about his fitness, dreaming of scoring the winning goal in the looming schools' cup final.
Esha, however, is actually a girl raised as a male by her parents. She is forced to confront her identity and sexuality when her periods start and she begins to have feelings for her best friend, Farooq.
By taking on the female identity of 'Kaahini', she takes tentative steps toward unravelling her 'true' self.
To do so, the characters who surround her must also face some uncomfortable truths about themselves.
Capercaillie Books are to be congratulated for making this text available. It is a welcome addition to the choices for students of Higher Drama, for both Contemporary Scottish Theatre and the Acting Exam."
Mark Russell, PT Drama, Cardinal Newan High School, Bellshill

ISBN: 0-9545206-4-5, 9780954520649
Price: £3.99