The Husbands

Sharmila Chauhan

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781783191130
• eBook ISBN: 9781783196128
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

It's Aya's wedding day. Her third. Her current two husbands aren't too fussed. In a society in which there are few women, that's just what happens. But as the household prepares for the wedding feast, a stranger arrives – one who threatens to challenge everything they believe in. Against a backdrop of modern rural India, Sharmila Chauhan weaves an extraordinary tale of love and wonder. From the preparation of luxury food and the sacrifice of the lamb to the dressing of the bride and the dance to end all dances, this will be an exuberant, joyful and challenging piece of theatre. 'In parts of India, polyandry has become a necessity. Gendercide, as a consequence of the ancient preference for boys, the modern desire for smaller families and the increasing availability of ultrasound techniques to detect the gender of a baby still in the womb means that the number of females is declining. I wrote The Husbands both as a response to this but also as an exploration of the complexity of love, intimacy and trust between one woman and three men where gender differences and expectations are amplified. In a sense this play is as much a warning as an allegory for the fate of women in The West today.' - Sharmila Chauhan

ACT ONE

SCENE 1: THE DAWN BREAKS

Opening festival night. Lights, loud music, laughter. Dancing.

Fade to darkness. Sound of AYA walking (she is wearing ankle bells). She approaches the SHRINE (with the Goddess) carrying the large SACRIFICIAL KNIFE. She asks for a blessing then exits. Ankle bells slowly fading into silence.

Lights up: Kitchen. Just before dawn. SEM and OMAR sit on the floor. OMAR is washing lentils in a large wooden bowl. SEM is sorting through them on a large circular basket. Religious music plays faintly in the distance. The men bob their heads to it. The air is tired but festive. The music stops and there is a sound of a prayer bell ringing. Throughout this scene the men sort through (clean) and wash the lentils to a rhythm.

A statue of a pregnant Goddess forms a SHRINE, next to an old fashioned scale that is laden with gold coins on one side and silver on the other. The silver side is heaviest.

SEM: Listen….

OMAR looks up.

They’ve begun…

SEM stands by the window looking out. The music heightens then fades.

The Priestess is on her way to the temple.

SEM bows his head briefly into a Namaste.

OMAR: Oh Kali-ma bring the night as fast as you can!

SEM: (Teasing.) We’ve just begun the fast and already you think of eating!

OMAR: Water is not enough to keep a man going…

SEM returns to the cleaning.

SEM: Perhaps not, but that is the point

We sacrifice to ask the Goddess for a blessing…

For something special

OMAR: Is there something you will be fasting for?

SEM: My reasons are the same as everyone else’s:

The health of my wife, the abundance of harvest.

OMAR: And for yourself?

SEM: This is not the time for that.

OMAR shakes his head smiling.

OMAR: What a life?

Last night we ate and drunk to our fill,

Now we fast and make pious.

Tonight when the sun is gone

We throw away our restraint and eat like pigs again…

SEM: It is a time for thanks and celebration is it not brother?

OMAR: Yes it is.

But the extremes, the pretense of purity…

SEM: You think too much!

SEM grins and slowly empties his bowl of lentils into a bigger pot on the stove.

OMAR: And you, what do you believe?

SEM: Tonight we will feast and forget our worries.

People will dance and sing.

Celebrate new marriages…

Be content with our own

OMAR: Content?

OMAR stretches out onto the floor, vaguely annoyed but fighting to conceal it.

SEM: Hey brother!

He slaps him affectionately on the back.

Come on, there’s work to do!

OMAR: How can you work with such little sleep?

SEM: It’s better to keep the mind busy so the stomach stays quiet…

OMAR: Ha!

You may be working but you are as slow as an old man!

SEM: That wine was very sweet

OMAR: Too sweet!

OMAR begins to sing something, making fun of SEM being drunk the night before. SEM ignores him, but smiles a little.

SEM: I wasn’t drunk!

You were the one with liquor pumping through his veins!

And who was that you were dancing with last night?

OMAR: (Off hand.) Acquaintance

SEM tuts.

OMAR: Dancing is what the festival is all about

The women flirting with boys

Courting the men

SEM: (Raising his eyebrows.) And the dancing with desire?

You know the lawyer’s daughter is no acquaintance.

Perhaps you were discussing council politics?

OMAR: Ah yes, the swelling of numbers,

but still the lack of girls and the need for more space…

(Laughing.)

But a festival is no time for such s...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Acknowledgements
• Dedication
• Characters
• The World of Shaktipur
• Contents
• Act One
• Act Two