Indian Soldier’s Monologue
| Series name | Productions: Across the Black Waters |
| Description | These two pages form an extract of an ‘Indian Soldiers monologue’ written by Dominic Rai. The piece was originally performed at ‘Portraits’ in 1989, in which Mán Melá explored the question “what is British Asian history?” The monologue was used again in 1993-94, in Mán Melá ‘s production of ‘Asian Voices’. The monologue takes place one night in the trenches during the First World War. |
| Date of Creation / Publication | 1989 and 1993-1994 |
| Creator | Rai, Dominic |
| Associated Person/ Organisation | Mán Melá Theatre Company |
| Location | London |
| Collection and Reference Number | Mán Melá Theatre Company Collection (GB 2661 MM) |
| Catalogue Number | MM/PRO/AB/5 |
| Copyright | The Creator and/ or the associated person or organisation where applicable. |
| Access to originals | The originals are located at SALIDAA |
| Series notes | Across Black Waters, a play adapted by Mán Melá from the novel by Mulk Raj Anand, depicts the struggles and aspirations of an Indian soldier in the trenches of the Western Front. More than one million soldiers fought in the First World War and over 62,000 died. Mán Melá’s adaptation of the novel by Dominic Rai and Gerald Wells, included music by composed by Baluji Shrivastav. The play itself and extracts of it toured the UK between 1998 and 2003 at various venues including the National Army Museum. The digitised items in this file include production programmes and leaflets, which provide historical details and information. |
| Collection notes | The Mán Melá Theatre Company Collection consists of digitised material pertaining to Mán Melá’s productions and its audience and project development work since 1993. The items include production and workshop photographs, flyers and information-based programmes. |
