Much To Do With Law, But More To Do With Love

Danish Sheikh loves not just the law, but also words. He believes in the power of both and in this play he uses cleverly crafted, poetic, and sometimes startling words to contemplate and question the law and his relationship with it. In this solo performance he self-deprecatingly uses a combination of lecture, performance and multimedia presentation to delve into his history with the law and how words can privilege or disappear experiences.

This sounds drear, but he is funny, self-aware and interesting. He cheekily includes many current cultural references including Taylor Swift in the role of Muse and Chat GTP as legal advisor.

He explains how growing up gay under the repressive Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalised homosexuality left him with a desire to fix the problem. He identifies the start of his journey as when he was asked to help with an affidavit recording a violent attack of transgendered woman for a case which was arguing against the existing law. He was devastated when that case was lost. He asks, “What do you do when you love the law, but it does not love you back?”

In this play he shares how he attempted to answer that question and subsequent developments including gaining a PhD and the ultimate change to Section 377.

Danish used only a lectern and one or two props, but his words filled the stage with a passionate, well-crafted and valuable work which holds open the space for deep consideration of repression and efforts to bring change.

Ruth Richter