Behind the Beautiful Forevers

Description

It's not just that rich people don't know what they've got. They don't even know what they throw away. India is beginning to prosper. But beyond the luxury hotels surrounding Mumbai airport is an obstacle, a makeshift slum. It's home to foulmouthed Zehurnisa and her garbage sorting son Abdul, entrepreneurs both. Sunil, twelve, stunted, flashy, picks plastic. Kalu, metal thief, sashays to Om Shanti Om. Manju, schoolteacher, hopes to be the settlement's first woman to gain a degree. Asha, go-to woman, exploits every scam to become a first-class person. And Fatima, One Leg, is about to make an accusation that destroys herself and rocks the neighbourhood. Katherine Boo spent three years recording the desperate, resourceful inhabitants of Annawadi. From her uncompromising book, winner of the National Book Award for Non-Fiction 2012, David Hare has fashioned a tumultuous play on an epic scale.

David Hare was born in Sussex in 1947. He is the author of twenty-nine plays for the stage, seventeen of which have been seen at the National Theatre. These include Plenty, The Secret Rapture, Amy's View, Gethsemane, The Power of Yes and South Downs. His many screenplays for cinema and television include Damage, The Hours and The Reader. He recently wrote and directed a trilogy of films for the BBC: Page Eight, Turks & Caicos and Salting the Battlefield.