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Copyright Tanika Gupta, 2017
Tanika Gupta is hereby identified as author of this play in accordance with section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The author has asserted their moral rights.
All rights whatsoever in this play are strictly reserved and application for performance etc. should be made before commencement of rehearsal to Alan Brodie Representation, Paddock Suite, The Courtyard, 55 Charterhouse Street, London EC1M 6HA (abr@alanbrodie.com). No performance may be given unless a licence has been obtained, and no alterations may be made in the title or the text of the play without the authors prior written consent.
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
PB ISBN: 9781786821843
E ISBN: 9781786821850
Cover design: Stylorouge
Printed and bound by 4edge Limited, Essex, UK.
eBook conversion by Lapiz Digital Services, India.
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This play is dedicated to the memory of my Great Uncle Dinesh Gupta
To his brothers Jyotish and Pritish who never forgot him
And to my father, the late Tapan Gupta who gifted me Dineshs prison letters
Acknowledgments
Thanks to: Emma Rice, Pooja Ghai, Roxana Silbert, Rosa Maggiora, Sita Brahmachari, Niku Archer and the wonderful drama team at The Globe Theatre for helping me along the way.
And a special thanks to David Archer for systematically nagging me over the decades to write this play.
Contents
Lions and Tigers was first staged in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeares Globe, London, on 23 August 2017. The cast was as follows:
Mahatma Gandhi Esh Alladi
Badal Gupta / Ram Raj Bajaj
Swann / Mills / Colonel Davis / Lord Birkenhead Adam Best
Bimala Sudha Bhuchar
Jawaharlal Nehru / Binoy Bose Jaz Deol
Subhash Bose / Jyotish Gupta / Watchman Tony Jayawardena
Charles Tegart / Lord Irwin / Executioner Jonathan Keeble
Kamala Shalini Peiris
Dinesh Gupta Shubham Saraf
Additional roles played by the company
Musical Director Arun Ghosh
Musicians Arun Ghosh and Sarathy Korwar
Director Pooja Ghai
Designer Rosa Maggiora
Composer Arun Ghosh
Movement Director Wayne Parsons
Fight Directors Rachel Bowen-Williams & Ruth Cooper-Brown
Assistant Director Milli Bhatia
A brief timeline of some key events in Indian politics leading to Independence
1600
The East India Company is established.
1757
The Battle of Plassey. British troops in the service of the East India Company defeat the French. From hereon, the East India Company rules India as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Government.
1857
Indias First War of Independence is ultimately a failed attempt by Indians to rise up against the invading British and East India Company. Termed The Indian Mutiny by the British, it is a bloody war to unite India against the invading British.
1858
The Government of India Act is passed, which marks a new chapter in Indian constitutional history. The East India Company is liquidated and the British Crown assumes control of the companys former revenues and powers of government in the Indian territories.
1877
Queen Victoria is crowned as the Empress of India by Disraeli.
1885
The Indian National Congress is formed, and leads the nation in the Independence Movement in its struggle against the British Empire.
1905
The Bengal Partition. Bengal is partitioned by Lord Curzon. It separates the mainly Muslim population in the Eastern areas from the mainly Hindu population in the western areas of Bengal. Indians proclaim this as Divide and Rule policy of the British. Partition galvanises the Indian Congress and the Swadeshi Movement is born, which includes boycotting British goods and public institutions, meetings and processions, forming committees, propaganda through press, and diplomatic pressure.
1906
The All-India Muslim League is established to safeguard the rights of Indian Muslims
1911
Muhammed Ali Jinnah introduces The Wakf Validation Act to place Muslim religious trusts on a sound legal footing under British Indian law.
A Government of India Act is passed, which modifies the Indian Councils Act 1909, and rescinds the Partition of Bengal (1905).
1913
Muhammed Ali Jinnah travels to Britain to meet with officials on behalf of the Congress.
Jinnah becomes the leader of the All-India Muslim League.
1914
Jinnah leads another delegation of the Congress to London.
1915
The Defence of India Act is passed. An emergency criminal law aimed at prosecuting Indian nationalists and revolutionaries during World War One. It has wide-ranging powers including preventive detention, internment without trial, restriction of writing, speech, and of movement.
1916
Muhammad Ali Jinnah helps to shape The Lucknow Pact between the Congress and the All-India Muslim League.
The All India Home Rule League is founded.
1918
Viceroy Frederic Thesiger invites Gandhi to a War Conference in Delhi.
1919
The Rowlatt Act is passed. The purpose of the act is to curb the growing nationalist upsurge in the country. This involves control of the press, arrests without warrant, indefinite detention without trial, and juryless in camera trials for certain political acts. Gandhi leads Indian opposition.
The Amritsar Massacre
