Edinburgh Fringe 2026
Mohan: A Partition Story
Niall Moorjani
Genre: Historical, One Person Show, Storytelling
Venue: Pleasance
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Moorjani’s tale offers nuance and utilises prose, verse, and music to conjure up both Mohan’s story and the history of India as whole since the early seventeenth century to mesmerising effect.
Review
Niall Moorjani is a master storyteller, and their Fringe output at this point is something to behold. A previous Fringe First winner with last year’s Kanpur 1857, and with an additional show this August, Selkie, at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, they’ve brought back their previous show, Mohan: A Partition Story to the Pleasance this August. Mohan, they explain, is their grandfather, and this is his story – one, they remind us, is just a drop in the ocean of Partition stories, but an important story nonetheless. Mohan was just eleven at Partition, and Moorjani deftly weaves a tale spanning between 2018, when they first heard about his account, and 1947, where, with the help of their grandfather’s chair, they assume the role of their grandfather to give life to his tale.
Much like in other parts of the world, similarly to places like Ireland and Cambodia where atrocities occurred in our parents’ and grandparents’ generations, Indian and Pakistani elders do not talk about Partition. Moorjani’s family doesn’t, and neither does Sodhi’s – the extremely talented musician who accompanies Moorjani with their tales. This story, then, is perhaps less familiar than it should be, and the contents, of course, is shocking. There were visceral reactions in the audience for this last show, likewise a show of grim awareness to the atrocities of empire. Moorjani’s tale offers nuance and utilises prose, verse, and music to conjure up both Mohan’s story and the history of India as whole since the early seventeenth century to mesmerising effect.
An hour goes by, and it feels like a matter of seconds. A simple set up, with minimal props, but you often don’t need much to create a show with a large impact, and Moorjani’s storytelling is no exception. A combination of fourth wall breaking, poetry, and lyricism, they gave a beautiful performance with a haunting message, but finished with a sense of hope and community that transcended the walls of Pleasance Above. Mohan: A Partition Story is intending to tour in the future, and it’s certainly not one to miss. And with the eightieth anniversary of Partition next year, it’s a single story, a mere drop in an ocean of similar stories, that is perhaps more prescient than ever before.
