When it comes to cruel and unusual punishment, it is hard to think of anything more grizzly than that meted out by the British army in Kanpur (then anglicised as Cawnpore) in retribution for the 19th-century Indian uprising against colonial occupation. Having been rounded up, each ringleader was tied to the mouth of a cannon. Before the eyes of the public, the weapon was fired.
To emphasise the point, a cannon sits on stage in Kanpur: 1857 – surely the largest prop at the fringe – positioned threateningly behind Niall Moorjani, who plays a storyteller facing his final hour, trying to come up with a narrative that makes sense of his awful predicament. How did a boy who grew up peacefully on the banks of the Ganges, who was captivated by poetry and the beauty of the spoken word, end up in this situation?
Didn’t his fellow rebel forces have the good grace to free their captured enemies and return their weapons? He sees himself as a good man caught up in the harsh tide of history.
Moorjani, a storyteller, is a still and compelling narrator, whose performance is enhanced by the live tabla playing of Sodhi (Hardeep Deerhe), sitting meditatively by his side. They are joined by Jonathan Oldfield as the British army executioner, whose membership of a Scottish regiment (posh southern accent notwithstanding) serves as a reminder that Scotland was as gung-ho a part of the British empire as England.
The soldier is intrigued by his captive’s tale, but on too much of a power kick to be empathic. The character’s presence in and out of the audience gives the performance a lively dynamic, although not quite enough to create a full-fledged play. The production sits in limbo between storytelling and drama, even as it remains a shameful and important reminder of a neglected period of British history.
At the Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, until 24 August.
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