Mohan: A Partition Story
★★★★☆ Necessary
Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33): Tue 18 – Mon 31 Aug 2026
Review by Hugh Simpson
Mohan: A Partition Story, from Niall Moorjani in association with Jasmine Cole Productions at the Pleasance for the last two weeks of Fringe, is an important tale beautifully told.
Edinburgh-based Moorjani has revived their much-admired play telling the story of their grandfather Mohan, who was 11 at the time of the Partition of 1947, which split British-occupied India into the independent nations of India and Pakistan.
Niall Moorjani and Sodhi. Pic: Audience
This division was done in haste, and by British officials who weren’t exactly familiar with India or its people; Cyril Radcliffe, who drew the border, had never been further East than Paris. It caused 12 million people to lose their homes and become refugees in their own country, and huge numbers died.
The background, the events of 1947 and the story of Moorjani’s family are interweaved in a wonderfully structured, beautifully delivered example of storytelling. With little more than their grandfather’s chair and the tabla accompaniment of Sodhi, Moorjani’s delivery showcases their craft.
The transitions between different voices and parts of the story are signalled with grace and economy, and there is a wonderful command of pace, variation and rapport with the audience.
While there is much that is serious, it is also leavened with humour and emotion, and a revised ending puts everything in contemporary context. The overriding emotion is not heaviness or despair, but a hope that stories can help, in however small a way, to ‘shift the dial’.
over-represented Scots
The parts of the show that detail the arrival of the British in India are particularly necessary for Scottish audiences. Too many Scots still see the Empire as something the English did.
The truth is that Scots were vastly over-represented in India. Before the Union (and Scots having access to the East India Company), Scotland was one of the poorest countries in Europe; access to the money plundered from India made it one of the richest. This is something Scotland still fails to acknowledge.
And even the stories of Partition are passing from view. Most of those who witnessed it refused to discuss it, and most are no longer around to tell their story.
So it is all the more vital that Mohan’s story is told. We are lucky to have someone like Moorjani who can tell it with so much skill and humanity.
Running time: One hour (no interval).
Pleasance Courtyard (Above), 60 Pleasance, EH8 9TJ (Venue 33).
Tuesday 18 – Monday 31 August 2026.
Daily: 3.25pm.
Tickets and details: Book here at EdFringe.com.
Tickets direct from venue: Book here.
Production website: jasminecoleproductions.co.uk
Facebook: @niall.moorjani
Instagram: @niallmoorjani
Linktree: @niallmoorjani.
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