Kanpur: 1857 – Above at Pleasance Courtyard

The Fringe First-winning production follows true events of Indian uprisings against British colonisers, told from the perspective of both the coloniser and the rebel. The siege of Kanpur, formally anglicised as Cawnpore, was a major event of the Indian rebellion of 1857 in which several hundred British were slaughtered by rebels on the banks of the River Ganges. British women and children were held captive in a house named Bibi Ghar where all 200 of them were brutally murdered. In retaliation, British troops captured and executed rebel soldiers by hanging, and on occasion would tie them to a live canon, with an audience of onlookers.                                                    

This is where our story begins. The audience are cleverly placed as the onlookers to this execution, this broken fourth wall makes attendees feel both victim to and complicit in the crimes of colonisation. With set bare except the canon sitting upstage looming over actors and audience alike, waiting to be fired. Adjacent to that, sits Hardeep Deerhe playing entrancing live tabla to underscore the play. His music mystically enhances moments of tension while also adding comedic charm and wit when necessary. Writer Niall Moorjani plays an anxious rebel, a talented storyteller forced to spend his last moments entertaining a self-righteous, stubborn soldier of the Scottish regiment played by Jonathon Oldfield. Oldfield’s character is imposing; his posh Southern accent dominates the space and crushes the spirits of Moorjani’s rebel each time he speaks.

The pair have a magnetic dynamic. The storyteller and the director, seeming reflective of the duos off-stage professions. Moorjani stands trembling in fear under Oldfield’s glare, as the soldier hops in and out of audience seating, interjecting whenever he pleases, a caricature of a colonial soldier.                                                                                               

In moments without interruption, Moorjani pulls the audience into another world with their emphatic delivery under a warm amber haze, as the romantic storyteller who dreamt of a life filled with so much more than war and destruction. The production layers moments of comedy over an underlying comment on the damage humans can inflict on one another. Moorjani, Oldfield and Deerhe expose the truth of human suffering, while humanising the very culprits of this pain.                                                           

Kanpur 1857 runs until 16th August 2026 and tickets can be found at https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/kanpur-1857

Reviewer: Ella Beckley

Reviewed: 8th August 2026

North West End UK / Theatre Muse UK Rating: