A PLAY by a writer and broadcaster originally from Keighley is returning to Leeds Playhouse and coming to the Bradford Alhambra following a successful 2017 run.

Nick Ahad, whose parents still live in the town, is the writer of "Partition".

It was commissioned by BBC Radio Leeds as a radio play, and was broadcast in August last year to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Partition of India and the creation of Pakistan.

The play was transferred to the stage of the Leeds Playhouse in September last year and returns to this theatre this week, before being performed at Bradford Alhambra Studio on November 14 and 15.

Mr Ahad said: “I’m hugely proud the play is coming back, allowing audiences who might have missed it last year a chance to experience it.

“The real beauty of this production is that it was written as a radio play initially and Leeds Playhouse decided to keep it as that when it was transferred to stage.

"In the radio version, which we recorded at BBC Drama Studios in Salford, four actors played 13 roles by changing voices and playing each character very differently.

"We had a team of technicians creating sound effects in the studio.

"We keep all of that in the stage version, so the audience get to see these four actors switching roles at the drop of a hat and a stage manager on stage with the actors creating live sound effects."

Partition will be performed to school groups at Bradford Alhambra Studio all next week, with the public able to buy tickets for the November 14 and 15 performances. It will then tour schools across Bradford and Leeds.

Mr Ahad, a presenter at BBC Radio Leeds, said: “When the play was at Leeds Playhouse last year we held a post-show question and answer session with the audience after every performance. Every night someone said the story of Partition, when India was split in two in 1947, should be taught in schools.

"Seeing plays at Keighley's St Anne’s Primary School when I was a boy is something I remember vividly. It inspired me to get into theatre myself."

Partition is at Leeds Playhouse on November 6 to 10. Tickets from 0113 2137700. And it is at Bradford Alhambra Studio on Nov 14 and 15. Tickets from 01274 432000.