KEIGHLEY playwright Nick Ahad’s latest drama is presented as a joint production by BBC Radio Leeds and the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

Partition will be a radio broadcast and live performance of a radio play commissioned from Nick to mark the 70th anniversary of the division of India and creation of Pakistan.

Nick, a former Emmerdale scriptwriter and Yorkshire Post arts editor, presents Little Nick’s Big Show on Saturdays on Radio Leeds.

He is increasingly making a name for himself as a playwright, with productions including The Chef Show, Coming Home Together, Nor Any Drop, Muslamic Love Story and My Mum The Racist.

Partition, directed by Stefan Escreet, explores the devastating legacy of the religious division which cost around a million lives, through the eyes of a modern day couple.

It will be broadcast on Radio Leeds, and a number of other BBC local stations, at midnight on August 14/15 to mark the exact time when the British partitioned India 70 years ago.

It will then be performed in front of a live audience at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds on September 8 and 9. Tickets are free.

Written from the viewpoint of modern day couple Saima and Ranjit, Partition tells the tale of how, 70 years after it was abruptly divided, the history of the Indian sub-continent continues to tear families apart.

Saima and Ranjit’s wedding should be the happiest day of their lives but Saima’s Muslim and Ranjit’s Sikh parents are not by their side, and hate, not love hangs over this couple’s union. Will love or hate prevail?

Nick said: “The story of Partition is one that continues to deeply affect British families whose roots lie in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is exciting to be able to explore this story with the powerful mediums of both radio and theatre.

Visit wyp.org.uk/about/whats-on to book free tickets for Partition.