Boksi Udhyog, a play about the persecution of women on grounds of purported witchcraft, is currently on stage at Kunja Theatre in Thapagaun, Baneshwor. “Who is a witch? And how does one learn witchcraft?” asks the brochure of the play.

Written by Ram Kumar Elan and directed by Prabhakar Dev Sharma, the play tells the story of a woman falsely accused of being a witch. The producers of the play say that by focusing on the trials of a woman accused of practicing witchcraft, the work explores the social causes and the disastrous effects of such baseless prosecutions.

The superstitious belief on witchcraft (boksi pratha) and consequent accusations and trials still happen in Nepal and this fact is not lost on contemporary Nepali playwrights.

Boksi Udhyog follows 2017’s acclaimed staging of Boksi Ghar, which told the harrowing story of a single woman accused of practicing witchcraft and the personal catastrophe following thereafter.  

Only last month, 20-year-old Radha Chaudhary of Dhangadi was accussed by so called friends of practicing witchcraft. As a result, she was ostracised at school—all because of a malicious lie. In Chaudhary’s case the school administration ultimately defended her and now she attends school free of cost—though somewhat commendable this is but a stopgap measure to save face and not at all a solution to the persistent problem of women being accused of witchcraft. Since these incidents continue to happen, their theatrical adaptations are also bound to persist. Perhaps it is the playwrights, actors, and other artists that have true agency in impacting the culture and changing it—even if it is in a piecemeal way. Boksi Udhyog features actors KC Raja, Padam Ghimire, Dipeeka Thapa, Tarzan Dahal and Bikash Sharma, among others.

The play will be staged at Kunja Theatre every day (except Sunday) until October 6.