17 April 2020
Really? Have the British sent a fool? Do they want to turn partition into a Gilbert and Sullivan opera?
As part of our quest to keep our cultural heart's beating, Dave and I prepare to enjoy another wonderful 'gift' from the team at Hampstead Theatre and the Guardian. With drinks in plastics, and another couple ordered for the interval, we experience Howard Brenton’s Drawing the Line (2013). Directed by the late Howard Davies, this play features a large ensemble, and tells the story of the chaotic partitioning of India in 1947 whilst celebrating the strength of humanity.
Summoned by the Prime Minister from the Court where he is presiding judge, Cyril Radcliffe is given an unlikely mission. He is to travel to India, a country he has never visited, and, with limited survey information, no expert support and no knowledge of cartography, he is to draw the border which will divide the Indian sub-continent into two new Sovereign Dominions. To make matters even worse, he has only six weeks to complete the task.
Wholly unsuited to his role, Radcliffe is unprepared for the dangerous whirlpool of political intrigue and passion into which he is plunged – untold consequences may even result from the illicit liaison between the Leader of the Congress Party and the Viceroy’s wife… As he begins to break under the pressure he comes to realise that he holds in his hands the fate of millions of people.
"An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind"
Mahatma Gandhi
We found this complex story hugely enjoyable. Beautifully staged with elegant lighting, props and styling - this production held no punches when portraying the clumsy, heavy handed approach of our Government and elder Royals. It highlighted the extraordinarily contingent and chaotic political circumstances that lay behind this momentous historical act of carving up a continent.
10 out of 10
