Latest news with #NiallMoorjani
Scotsman
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Kanpur: 1857 preview: Fringe show about Indian rebellion has 'unavoidable' parallels with Gaza
It may be set in mid-19th century India, but Niall Moorjani's play Kanpur: 1857 has plenty of contemporary resonance, writes Joyce McMillan Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... In the old colonial history British people were taught at school, it was always called the 'Indian Mutiny'. In Indian history, though, it is known as the Kanpur Uprising of 1857, one of the first stirrings of the movement against British colonial rule that would eventually, in 1947, lead to Indian independence; and Scottish-Indian theatre-maker Niall Moorjani – raised in Dundee, now based in London – was already working on the story when that period of colonial history began to take on a whole new contemporary meaning. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'It's the story of a people suddenly rising up in a violent insurrection against a brutal colonial power,' explains Moorjani, 'an insurrection that involved some atrocious acts of violence against British women and children; and then of the hugely disproportionate and violent response to that outrage, in which at least 100,000 people are thought to have died. The parallels to the current situation in Gaza were unavoidable; and it made me think even more deeply about how the colonial mindset never changes, through the ages.' Niall Moorjani and Jonathan Oldfield, stars of Kanpur: 1857 The result was Moorjani's play Kanpur: 1857, this year's winner of the Pleasance Theatre's £10,000 Charlie Hartill award, designed to encourage the presentation of significant new plays on the Edinburgh Fringe. Working with fellow performer and co-director Jonathan Oldfield – rising star of BBC comedy, and director of four other comedy shows on this year's Fringe – and the Scottish-Indian musician Sodhi, known as Talking Tabla, Moorjani has created a tense one-hour two-handed drama, backed by Sodhi's music, in which Moorjani's character – an Indian rebel strapped to a cannon, and about to be blown to pieces for his role in the rising – is interrogated by a British officer, played by Oldfield. 'That was a punishment widely used by the British in suppressing the rebellion,' explains Moorjani, 'so the whole thing is closely based on the history of the event. It is a fictional story, though, and it has other elements – one theme of the play is how colonial attitudes appear both at the macro level, in major political events, and at the micro level, in people's personal lives. 'So there is also a love story here, and it's one that involves a relationship between the Indian rebel and a hijra, a member of India's traditional 'third sex', neither male nor female, whose position in Indian society was always respected until the British passed a law against hijras and their culture, a few years after the events in this play. As a non-binary person myself, I'm fascinated by this aspect of Indian culture, and by how the British in India increasingly saw it as incompatible with their colonial rule.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Publicity image for Kanpur: 1857 Despite its fiercely serious themes, though, Moorjani is clear that Kanpur: 1857 is not a solemn show, to be endured rather than enjoyed. 'In fact it's quite a strongly comedic show,' says Moorjani, 'because I think that when you encounter oppressive forms of power, laughing at them is one of the best ways of opposing and challenging them. The truth is that however much pain and horror they inflict, colonial attitudes are ridiculous - they're based on a laughable set of assumptions about superiority, and so on. So why not laugh at them? 'And I should also say how wonderful it has been to win the Charlie Hartill award, and to have that support in bringing this show to the Fringe – it just transforms the Fringe from an unaffordable festival to one where you can pay people, and do the show you want to do. 'The Pleasance have been absolutely fantastic – they've given us all the support they promised and more, and without this award we simply couldn't have done a full run of this show in this form. So it's a wonderful thing that the Pleasance does every year, and there should be more of it. I know other venues also have their own schemes for supporting new work; but the more the better, because with costs soaring every year, it's desperately needed.'
The National
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The National
Gaza war crimes echo in new play about Britain's brutality in India
Niall Moorjani's Kanpur: 1857 heads to the Edinburgh Fringe later this week and tells the story of the Britain Empire's brutal reprisal after the Indian Rebellion, known in India as the First War of Independence. After a mutiny in Meerut on May 10, 1857, the revolt spread across parts of the country under the rule of the British East India Company. The empire's retaliation was merciless: 6000 British were killed, but it is believed the subsequent crackdown resulted in the deaths of around 800,000 Indians. Moorjani, who was born in Arbroath and raised in Dundee, told the Sunday National they wanted to speak up about the genocide in [[Gaza]] and saw the similarities in Britain's brutal repression of the rebellion. But it was a chance encounter at Edinburgh Castle that crystallised their vision. Outside the medieval fort, there is a monument featuring an elephant, commemorating Scottish soldiers killed in the campaign. They said: 'It stands outside our castle, probably our most famous landmark; there's this monument which has an elephant on it and if you don't know about it, you don't know. I had no idea until I stumbled across it and I was like, 'Why is there an elephant there?'' Moorjani said they were struck by 'the parallels of a colonial oppressor collectively punishing a group of people on the back of violent resistance', adding: 'I think that deepening of historical understanding and the fact that this isn't new, this is a really old story; all of those things combined together to make me want to write something and make something about it.' Moorjani said they'd learnt the story of the Indian Rebellion in university and it 'got under my skin in a really deep way'. They were also moved by the Black Lives Matter movement which reached a fever pitch after the murder of George Floyd – a black man murdered by a white police officer in 2020 – which forced them to reckon with the 'racism I grew up with and our role as Scots in colonial history that we're not very good at acknowledging or educating ourselves about', Moorjani said. Moorjani said that their work as a storyteller and writer gave them the tools to 'further raise awareness of British-Indian history, especially from a Scottish perspective'. Their play, co-directed with Jonathan Oldfield, features an Indian rebel strapped to a cannon who is forced to answer for the 'crimes of Kanpur' – an important British garrison at the time of the time of the rebellion which fell to the Indians only to be retaken by imperial forces. Moorjani said this conceit allowed them to get inside the head of the British forces, helping to shine a light on the imperial mindset. 'This character really fascinated me, this guy who genuinely believes doing something right and doing something good,' they said. 'He genuinely believes he's on the right side of history and putting across all of these colonial views – what an amazing way to satirise and interrogate, in a reverse, meta sense, colonial theory and the ideas that underpin colonial hierarchy.' Kanpur: 1857 runs from July 30 to August 24 – excluding August 12 and 13 – at the Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh at 3.40pm. For more information, including ticket prices, visit
South Wales Guardian
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- South Wales Guardian
Llandovery: The Green Knight (But it's Gay) coming to stage
Award-winning theatre maker Niall Moorjani will perform their show The Green Knight (But it's Gay) at the King's Head in Llandovery. The show is a reimagining of the medieval Arthurian tale told through a modern, queer lens. The performance will take place on Thursday, July 10. Ella Peel, organiser of Llandovery Pride and chairperson of Heart of Wales LGBTQ+, said: "We're so thrilled that Niall is fitting us into their very busy schedule. "Bringing this show to Llandovery is so important – offering people powerful, live performance without the need to travel miles to a big city. "We're so grateful to Jonathan Stanley for hosting this fabulous event at the Kings Head Llandovery." The show comes ahead of its highly anticipated run at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It has been described as bold, hilarious, and heart-wrenching, queering the myth with razor-sharp writing and emotional depth. The event will also serve as a fundraiser for Llandovery Pride, supporting the visibility and celebration of LGBTQ+ lives in rural Wales. Doors will open at 6.30pm, with the performance starting at 7pm. Tickets are available online via Ticket Source. The King's Head is located at SA20 0AB.
