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URBED associate and Mancunian, Anwar Akhtar is a regular visitor to Pakistan as part of his work on the Samosa. On one of his visits he was taken to a performance of Dara by the Ajoka Theatre Company in Lahore. On his return he introduced the play to Nicholas Hytner at the National Theatre, who then commissioned a translation of the Urdu original to be staged at the National Theatre. The first time a Pakistani theatre company has had a version of their work at the National Theatre.
 
The play that runs until 4^th April was originally written by Shahid Nadeem in 2009. It is based on the true story of the succession war of two seventeenth century Muslim princes, both the sons of Shah Jahan, the Mughal emperor who built the Taj Mahal.  The tyrannical and autocratic younger son Aurangzeb wins out over his peace loving older brother, Dara in a story with an obvious resonance today.

The production has been widely praised in Time Out, The Guardian and Channel 4 News as an important piece of theatre with intellectual rigour, on issues that are not always engaged, with historical depth, that also deserved to be seen outside London.

If you are interested in the story of Dara and the wider work of Ajoka Theatre and the Samosa media project please contact Anwar Akhtar.

If you wish to see Dara in London it is on till April 4^th and you can find details here.

If you want more details on how Dara came to London, its historical and contemporary context there is an essay by Anwar here.