Lions and Tigers

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"Tanika Guptas epic drama pushes the boundaries of verbatim theatre, telling an important story in a fresh and authentic way never seen on stage before. A rousing piece of work." - Greg Walker, University of Edinburgh, UK Based on the true story of Tanika Gupta's great uncle, Lions and Tigers follows 19-year-old Dinesh Gupta's emotional and political awakening as a freedom fighter pitting himself against the British Raj. Drawn from family stories that the playwright herself heard from early childhood, the play teems with details drawn from her grandfathers 500-page handwritten journal about his younger brother, and from the 92 letters written by her great uncle from his prison cell. Set against the backdrop of negotiations between the leaders of the Indian National Congress and culminating in actions that shook the very foundations of the British Empire, Lions and Tigers challenges our assumptions about Indian independence and offers powerful new insights into the battles between the British lions and the Bengal tigers. The play was first performed at Shakespeares Globe from the 23rd August to 16th September 2017, and was awarded the James Tait Black Prize for Drama in 2018. It is published here in Methuen Drama's Modern Classics series for the first time, with a brand new introduction by Durba Ghosh.

Reviews

An ambitious, driving play... Lions and Tigers is a political history as much as it is a personal one, and it swings from dense history lecture to intimate storytelling, where Guptas writing is at its most playful and potent. -- Corrie Tan * The Guardian *
A powerful new play... It's typical of the play's freshness that it looks at the role of women in the cause of independence (and acknowledges those who feel they would have to unshackle themselves from Indian men first)... An impressive piece warm, humorous, stirring, and deeply sad. -- Paul Taylor * The Independent *
Seventy years on from the partition of India, the bloody legacy of mass displacement and sectarian conflict remains. But rather than dwelling on partitions effects, Tanika Guptas new play celebrates the spirit of independence that preceded it... Flashes of humour punctuate a script that doesnt shy away from the ugly business of torture and grooming. -- Henry Hitchings * Evening Standard *

Author Bio

Tanika Gupta has written for theatre, radio, film and television. She is an Honorary Fellow at Rose Bruford College, was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2008 for Services to Drama, and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2016.