Meera Sitaraman’s absurdist play, All That Matters holds up a mirror to justice

When a cow walks into a courtroom seeking justice for a crime committed forty years ago, you know you’re not in for a conventional courtroom drama. In All That Matters, playwright Meera Sitaraman turns a bizarre real-life news article into a sharply absurd, darkly humorous exploration of memory, time, and the Indian legal system, all wrapped in a surreal courtroom narrative that feels both impossible and familiar.

Playwright Meera Sitaraman draws on real events to craft a darkly comic courtroom drama.

Directed by Rasika Agashe (of Beings Association, the organisation behind the biennial Sanhita Manch Playwright Award), the play has taken two years to come together, "It came to me as a short play about two years ago and then it panned itself into a full length play. I think the play ran in my head as a universe for a few months and then it was all about putting pen to paper," says Meera.

Inspired by multiple true events, including a real-life case in which an 80-year-old man received a court order for a cow he had hit with his tractor three decades ago, the play balances fact and fiction in unexpected ways. “I read a news article that prompted the short play. Then I began weaving in other strange, yet true, cow-related cases across India, both from the news and personal memories,” says Meera. “The location is fictional, but the absurdity is all too real.”

At the heart of the story is the cow herself, who returns to testify, a voice Meera deliberately gave life to. “What kind of justice she seeks... I’d rather let the play reveal that,” she says.

Though the premise is laced with humour, the satire is pointed. A courtroom full of dead accused, the slow churn of justice, the entanglement of religion and state, All That Matters doesn’t shy away from critique. But neither does it moralise. “The humour lies in the possibility of the absurd,” Meera says. “I didn’t try to make it funny. It just is.”

Set in a fictional Rajasthan town, the play’s reflections on time and memory are rooted in Meera’s own upbringing in the region. “How we remember things is very cultural. My roots helped me explore that.”

Despite its grounding in real events, the work never veers into dry reportage. “Playwrights are storytellers,” Meera says simply. “The fear of reportage goes away when you focus on what the story truly needs.”

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