Sultans of the Street

When young orphans Mala and Chun Chun encounter brothers Prakash and Ojha on the busy streets of Kolkata, they are immediately at odds. The brothers come from a lower-middle-class family and spend their time flying kites instead of attending class, while Mala and Chun Chun can only dream of going to school, a goal Aunty promises will be fulfilled if they beg for money from passersby. After a petty fruit-stall heist lands Ojha in Aunty’s cunning hands, the brothers are blackmailed into begging alongside Mala and Chun Chun, forcing the children to interact. Though they find each other nuisances at first, the kids soon realize their strength in numbers as Aunty’s scheming is slowly revealed.

AUTHOR

Anusree Roy

Anusree Roy is a Governor General’s Literary Award–nominated writer and actor whose work has premiered internationally. Her plays include Trident Moon, Sultans of the Street, Brothel #9, Roshni, Letters to my Grandma, Little Pretty and The Exceptional, and Pyaasa. Her plays and performances have won her four Dora Mavor Moore Awards along with multiple nominations. She is the recipient of the KM Hunter Artist Award, the RBC Emerging Artist Award, and the Carol Bolt Award, was named as a protégé of the Siminovitch Prize, and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. She lives in Toronto.

Reviews

“Roy is writing for a young audience and so her play reflects the dilemmas they will face. Do you steal and lie because it’s fun and you get stuff? Or do you tell the truth, play fair all the time, and live your life like a responsible person of character and live with the punishment? I love that Roy floats those dilemmas into her play and it never sounds like lecturing. And I love that the conclusion is honest and not sugar coated… Roy is a gifted writer.” —Lynn Slotkin on CIUT Friday Morning
“Roy brings richness to the conclusion, for though it’s uplifting, it doesn’t erase the memory of the past.” —Jon Kaplan, NOW Magazine