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Counter Offence
Counter Offence
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Last Copy!
Author: Rahul Varma Introduction by: Shahrzud Mojab Publisher: Playwrights Canada Press (cover image may change) Format: Softcover # of Pages: 103 Pub. Date: 1997 ISBN-10: 0887545297 ISBN-13: 9780887545290 Cast Size: 3 female, 5 male
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About the Play:
HARD TO FIND BOOK, only a very limited
number of copies are still available.
Counter Offence is a full-length drama by Rahul Varma. The daughter of Indian immigrants marries a foreign student from Iran. One
day their world is turned upside down: she charges him with wife
battering and he, in turn, charges the police of being racist in
their handling of his arrest. What happens when the "race-card"
is used as a ruse to evade responsibility for violence against women?
Counter Offence is a gripping murder mystery that explores
the relationship between the police and minorities. When Shazia, the
daughter of Indian immigrants, is hit by her Iranian husband Shapoor,
he is arrested for domestic violence. Immediately after, things take
an unexpected turn. A clever and conniving community activist lawyer,
Moolchand Misra unexpectedly steps in and accuses the arresting
officer, Alex Martin, who happens to be white, of racism and police
brutality. Misra demands an inquiry thus turning a routine domestic
violence case into a racially charged issue. The entire police
department is up in arms about the inquiry and what they see as a
calculated offence being mounted against them. Shapoor is deported
and subsequently returns only to be found dead in a hotel room. There
are suspects at every turn. In this fascinating whodunnit, Rahul
Varma poses questions which are more relevant than ever given the
nationwide uproar around the police and their treatment of minorities
and the current climate of mistrust.
Counter Offence premiered in 1996 at the Strathearn
Intercultural Centre in Montreal. It was presented in 2000 at The
Firehall Arts Centre in Vancouver, and in 2017 by Bay Area Drama
Company in Sunnyvale, California.
Cast: 3 female, 5 male
What people say:
"Preceding the much-publicised
O.J. Simpson case, Counter Offence is evidence that Varma stays at
the cutting edge of issues that are significant to a multicultural
context... Counter Offence is certainly his best to date, combining
psychological insight with dramaturgical complexity." —
Uma Parameswaran,
Professor
of English at the University of Winnipeg
"A play that makes a
difference." — Place Publique
"Call it ethnic theatre, call
it a message-play, but also call it real and current and in your
face. As it spun its tale of an oppressed immigrant man oppressing
his wife, it also managed to make the life of a white male critic
difficult – it held a mirror up to even the most devout liberal and
said, "You still don't get it". You don't see theatre
with this kind of merit, in French or in English, very often in this
city or any other. It's gutsy theatre that crawls under your skin
and blisters the psyche." — Montreal Mirror
About the Playwright:
Rahul Varma is a Canadian playwright and activist. He was
born in India, attended college at the University of Lucknow (B.Sc.),
moved to Canada in 1976, and worked as a research technician at
McGill University in Montreal. He began writing plays in Hindi, but
now writes also in English. He is a founding member and was artistic
director of Teesri Duniya Theatre, a multicultural theatre group
based in Montreal that is committed to producing politically relevant
works that address diversity in Canada since 1981.
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