Captivating

National Theatre opens gripping tale of Mumbai poverty and ambition

This month saw the cast and crew of ‘Behind the Beautiful Forevers’ deliver a captivating performance to a celebrity-packed audience.

The National Theatre opened its doors to stars of the screen and stage including; James Bond star Kabir Bedi, Eastenders stars Nitin Ganatra, Himesh Patel and Rakhee Thakrar, Seema Pathan of The Wright Stuff, BBC presenters Yasmin Khan and Naga Munchetty and actors Kulvinder Ghir, Shivani Ghai and Valmike Rampersand.

The latest production from the National Theatre, ‘Behind the Beautiful Forevers’ tells a gripping tale of poverty and global ambition in the Mumbai under-city.

Following the lives of the slum-dwellers of Annawadi, one of Mumbai’s most impoverished, ramshackle slums, the play captures the humanity of an underclass fighting to survive the violence, greed and corruption of the rapidly changing world around them.

Directed by Rufus Norris and written by David Hare, the hard-hitting new play, which combines gritty reality with dark humour and a punchy soundtrack, is based on the original award-winning book by Katherine Boo and stars Meera Syal with an impressive supporting cast.

The new production is running at the National Theatre from 19th November, and is currently booking until 13th April.  Part of the Travelex £15 Tickets season, half the tickets for every performance are £15. It will be broadcast to UK cinemas by National Theatre Live on 12th March.