Flora Crewe, a young poet travelling in India in 1930, has her portrait painted by a local artist. More than fifty years later, the artist's son visits Flor'as sister in London while her would-be biographer is following a cold trail in India.

The alternation of place and period in Tom Stoppard's new play (based on his radio play In The Native State) makes for a rich and moving exploration of intimate lives set against one of the great shafts of history, the emergence of the Indian subcontinent from the grip of Europe.