Death and The Maiden

National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai · Directed by Bruce Guthrie · 2026

Movement direction and intimacy coordination for Ariel Dorfman’s political thriller, developing a precise physical language around power, memory and restraint. The process combined detailed choreography with consent-based protocols to support safety, clarity and sustainability throughout the production.

Creative Team
Designer: Simon Kenny
Lighting Designers: Arghya Lahiri & Yael Crishna
Sound Designer: Rahul Nadkarni
Composer: Andrew T. Mackay
Movement Director: Emilia Cadenasso
Costume Designer: Pallavi Patel
Vocal Coach: Shernaz Patel

Production Team
Producer: Avafrin Mistry
Production Manager: David Filshie
Stage Manager & Show Caller: Spriha Nakhare
Featuring musicians from the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI).

In a country emerging from dictatorship, the past refuses to stay buried.

When Paulina Salas, a former political prisoner, encounters a stranger late one night, she is convinced he is the man who once tortured her. As her husband Gerardo, now appointed to a national human rights commission, struggles to uphold the rule of law, Paulina takes justice into her own hands, staging a chilling trial that blurs the line between truth and memory.

Is this a reckoning… or a descent into vengeance?

Ariel Dorfman’s electrifying psychological thriller examines trauma, power, and the cost of justice in a world where certainty is elusive.

Premiering in 1990, Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman quickly became an international success, produced across major theatres in Europe, the United States, and Latin America. Widely regarded as a defining political drama of the late 20th century, it was later adapted into a 1994 film, starring Sigourney Weaver and Ben Kingsley, further cementing its status as a modern classic.

Co-produced by Lila Naatak Co.

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