The courageous life of a war heroine shines brightly in world premiere at Chichester Festival Theatre
A small and quiet light is a powerful and poignant telling of the true story of special operative Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan
It must have been a crushing moment for a young princess, brought up by a loving family, when she discovers for the first time there are evil people in the world.
But that is the grievous realisation which underpins a small and quiet light, Stephanie Street’s play based on the life of a true war heroine, Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan. The light might be billed as small and quiet, but the world premiere at Chichester Festival Theatre shines a powerful beam on what one woman was prepared to sacrifice in the name of freedom from Nazi tyranny.
Noor Inayat Khan was one of the first female Special Operations Executive (SOE) operatives flown into France with the mission to encourage and aid espionage and sabotage behind enemy lines following the fall of France to Germany and the Dunkirk evacuation. The play is a fictional imagination of the real events of her courageous life between 1914-1944, documented through archives, war records and numerous biographies. Set across England, France and Germany there are local nods to her training at Beaulieu and her flight to Paris from RAF Tangmere.
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Entering the theatre you have a certain trepidation that this is going to be a hard watch with a conclusion that isn’t going to end well. But it is delicately handled by the small cast of seven who interchange roles throughout. This does create some initial confusion as it is an all-female cast and you move through some scenes before realising ‘oh, that’s her father’ or ‘that must be her brother’ or ‘no, that character is actually a woman’.
But Priyanga Burford is excellent in the lead role, taking us through the many twists of Noor’s life from her childhood to the family’s flight to England from Paris, her determination to make a difference to the war effort and her duplicitous life back in France, laying bare both her courage and her flaws. Amanda Hadingue and Lea des Garets shine best in their roles as Vera and Viennot and the temperature drops when Caoilfhionn Dunne as Vogt reminds Noor that he is her enemy.
There are some moments of humour but the live piano playing by Kiah Arya as a young Noor gives the performance a constant edge. The play builds with a sickening inevitability in the second half but the subjects of incarceration, torture and the final trip to Dachau concentration camp are very forceful without taking you to too dark a place.
A small and quiet light is a poignant and powerful story which brings a deserved brightness to the remarkable life of Noor Inayat Khan.