Prayas staged a love story and political satire The Clay Cart (or Mricchakatika) for Auckland audiences. The original play written circa the 5th Century CE is more ancient than the equally famous Shakuntala.
Mricchakatika remains one of India’s most enduring works, with a mastery of the craft that was far ahead of its time. It is also one of the most celebrated plays performed in the West. “Nowhere else in the hundreds of Sanskrit dramas do we find such variety, and such drawing of character, as in The Clay Cart; and nowhere else, in the drama at least, is there such humour” says Arthur Ryder whose translation of this play for Harvard University was published in 1905.
The Clay Cart belongs to the classical tradition of Indian theatre, yet displays a Shakespearian breadth as it moves from farce to tragedy, and from satire to pathos.
