Phantasmagoria

Shortlisted for The Hindu Playwright Award

Four people come together for a political
debate in a remote house, deep in a forest.

Mehrosh is a celebrated activist, made anxious
by recent death threats. Her opponent,
Bina, is a wily politician from the ruling
party, determined to look good and win. Jai
is a journalist who wants to launch his new
channel with a bang. Scherezade is Bina's PA,
and not quite who she seems. Is anyone?

Set in an imaginary country in the near
future, Phantasmagoria pits the terror of
speaking out, against the fear of staying
quiet, in order to warn us of the very real
dangers of populism, social media and the use
of fear to control us.

About the Author
Deepika Arwind is an international playwright and
theatre-maker originally from Bangalore whose work has
been presented across India, the USA and Europe. She has
won or been nominated for several awards, including the
Toto Award, the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative,
and The Hindu Playwright Award.

She was recently a playwright-in-residence at Jagriti,
part of The International Conference of Insecurity - a
collective of performers from eight countries based in
Zurich (2022), and playwright-in-residence for the Welt/
Buehne season at the Residenztheater in Munich.

She will be a fellow at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in
Stuttgart for most of 2023.