POLITICALLY AND CULTURALLY RELEVANT

Based on historical events during the Indian Mughal Empire of 1659, this play by the National Theatre examines how brotherly bonds can be fractured when a throne and an empire comes up for the taking. A politically relevant play that is as important to the future of India today as back in the 1600s.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

A play of Indian courtly intrigue, the Mughal palace is a place of decadence; of harems, opulence and eunachs. The two brothers in question are the beloved crown prince Dara, and his younger brother Aurangzeb; two men whose Muslim faith inspire very different courses of action. Where in Dara Islam inspires art and poetry, in Aurangzeb it means religious and political fervour, so much so that he is willing to purge the kingdom of non-Muslims, and even depose his brother from his rightful place on the throne. Can their beloved sister Jahanara manage to assuade Aurangzeb from his radical course of action and save the empire from destruction?