“This is not that Dawn for which, ravished with freedom,
we had set out in sheer longing,
so sure that somewhere in its desert the sky harboured
a final haven for the stars, and we would find it.”- Translation from poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz
A Tainted Dawn (1997)
by Sudha Bhuchar and Kristine Landon-Smith
Marking the 50th anniversary of the partition of India, A Tainted Dawn tells the stories of ordinary people who found themselves trapped on the wrong side of hastily drawn borders in 1947. Tamasha was invited by the Edinburgh International Festival to open the play there in August 1997. Music for the show was composed by Nitin Sawnhey, now a leading recording artist.
A Tainted Dawn was adapted from improvisations inspired by the following short stories: Postbox by S.H. Ajneya; A Leaf in the Storm by Lalithambika Antharjanam; Exile by Jamila Hashimi; An Indian Lauren Bacall by Leila Keys; Wages of Labour by Manto; The Vultures of the Parsi Cemetery by Ali Imam Naqvi, Lord of the Rubble by Mohan Rakesh; Pali and We have Arrived in Amritsar both by Bhisham Sahni.
‘I doubt if any theatre company, anywhere will bring the disappointment and disillusion of 1947 so grittily to life.’ - The Times
Credits
Director Kristine Landon-Smith
Designer Sue Mayes
Lighting Designer Paul Taylor
Movement Director Lawrence Evans
Composer Nitin Sawhney
Sound Tom Lishman
Original Cast
Paul Bazely
Nizwar Karanj
Shaheen Khan
Parminder Nagra
Simon Nagra
Rehan Sheikh
Badi Uzzaman
Harvey Virdi
