Vijay Tendulkar (1928 – 2008) is one of India’s finest contemporary playwrights, and Sakharam Binder, written originally in Marathi in 1972, is one of his best- known plays. Sakharam, a book-binder, picks up other men’s discarded women – cast-off wives who would otherwise be rendered homeless and destitute, or be murdered with impunity – and takes them in as domestic servants and sex partners. Ruling his home like a tyrant, and telling each woman she is “free to leave” whenever she wants, he does not anticipate the moral and emotional complications of this arrangement, which prove heartbreakingly ruinous to everyone involved.
The play was banned in 1974 because it was considered too violent and vulgar. It has since been translated into many Indian languages and staged all over the world. Prominent artists such as Amrish Puri, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Sayaji Shinde, Nilu Phule, Sulbha Deshpande and Sonali Kulkarni have been associated with the play.
Language: Hindi (with English supertitles)
Run-time: 120 minutes
Children under 12 will not be admitted | Flash photography not allowed.
SUN Oct 10, 5 pm (Palo Alto)
FRI Oct 15, 8 pm (Palo Alto)
SAT Oct 16, 6 pm (Palo Alto)
SAT Oct 23, 5 pm (San Ramon)
SUN Oct 24, 5 pm (San Ramon)
General: $20 ($16 for 5 or more tickets)
Front Orchestra*: $30 ($25 for 5 or more tickets)
* Front Orchestra guarantees preferential seating
Cubberley Theater
4000 Middlefield Rd
Palo Alto, CA 94303
Front Row Theater
17011 Bollinger Canyon Rd
San Ramon, CA 94582