Pakistani troupe reunites sisters

A Pakistani theater group has brought together two grand dames of South Asian theater in “A Granny for All Seasons,” a play about their divided lives for more than four decades in India and Pakistan.

In a sign of improving relations on the subcontinent, Ajoka, a Pakistani troupe working for social change, traveled on the regular “friendship bus” linking the nuclear rivals to put on two shows in New Delhi this week. First staged in 1993, the play centers on the lives of two sisters who play themselves on stage: Indian actress Zohra Segal, 92, and her sister, Uzra Butt, 86, who migrated to Pakistan in 1960.

Director Madeeha Gauhar said the real-life story tells of the trauma of families divided by artificial boundaries and also tackles the politically sensitive issue of Pakistanis being forced to shed their cultural and historic links with India.