Orange Tree Theatre (OT) in Richmond has revealed the first images from Rajiv Joseph's Guards at the Taj in association with the JMK Trust.

The JMK Award, founded in memory of director James Menzies-Kitchin, each year provides one young director the opportunity to stage their own production of a classic or contemporary text at OT.

This year's winner Adam Karim directs Usaamah Ibraheem Hussain as Babur and Maanuv Thiara as Humayun in this production exploring friendship and betrayal between two Imperial Guards at the construction of the Taj Mahal.

'It's crazy! Sixteen years in the making! Since we were kids, they've been building this!' (credit: Lidia Crisafulli).

Joint JMK Award Winners director Adam Karim and designer Roisin Jenner are joined by Lighting designer Elliot Griggs, Composer Xana, Sound designer Niraj Chag and Casting Director Matilda James CDG.

Guards at the Taj opens on 30 October, with previews from 26 October and runs until 16 November. 

Adam Karim won the 2024 JMK Award (credit: Lidia Crisafulli).

Agra, India, 1648. The sun rises on the final day of construction of the Taj Mahal, the most beautiful monument the world has ever seen. Imperial Guards and best friends Babur and Humayun must once again follow the Emperor's orders, and resist the temptation to steal a glimpse.

But as morning's first light touches the pure white domes, the urge is too strong, and Babur and Humayun are about to discover that beauty comes at a terrible price.

This is an audacious, funny and ever-surprising play about friendship, betrayal and power.

Usaamah Ibraheem Hussain as Babur in Guards at the Taj (credit: Lidia Crisafulli).

Usaamah Ibraheem Hussain plays Babur. A recent LAMDA graduate, his stage credits include Peanut Butter & Blueberries (Kiln Theatre), Brown Boys Swim (Soho Theatre) and Coram Boy (Nottingham Playhouse). His television credits include Surface.

Maanuv Thiara plays Humayun. His stage credits include Boys on the Verge of Tears (Soho Theatre), The Cherry Orchard (The Yard Theatre), The Father and the Assassin (National Theatre), Mismatch, Boys Who Cry (Birmingham Repertory Theatre), Love N Stuff (Sheffield Theatres, Oldham Coliseum), Disproportionately Affected: Collection 1 (TARA Theatre), The Invisible Hand, Approaching Empty (Kiln Theatre), Macbeth (Rabble Theatre) and The Funeral Director (Southwark Playhouse). His television credits include, Generation Z, Varsity, Trigger Point, DI Ray, Landscapers, Ted Lasso, Brassic, Line of Duty, Hamlet and The Boy with the Topknot; and for film The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.

Maanuv Thiara as Humayun in Guards at the Taj (credit: Lidia Crisafulli).

Adam Karim is a freelance theatre director and facilitator. He was most recently Donmar Warehouse Resident Assistant Director 2023 where he worked across Clyde's, When Winston Went To War With The Wireless and Trouble In Butetown. His other theatre credits as director include Platform (East15), Pressure Drop (Immediate Theatre, The Yard Theatre, schools tour) and Second Person Narrative (Omnibus Theatre); and as an assistant director, his credits include The P-Word (Bush Theatre, Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre), and Sorry You're Not A Winner (Paines Plough).

Guards at the Taj opens on 30 October, with previews from 26 October and runs until 16 November (credit: Lidia Crisafulli).

Rajiv Joseph's play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo was a 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist for drama and also awarded a grant for Outstanding New American Play by the National Endowment for the Arts. His play Archduke received its world première in 2017 at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. Other plays include Gruesome Playground Injuries, The Monster at the Door, Animals Out of Paper, The Lake Effect, The North Pool, Mr. Wolf and Describe the Night.

Joseph has been awarded artistic grants from the Whiting Foundation, United States Artists and the Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust. He is a board member of the Lark Play Development Center in New York City, where he develops all his plays.

To find out more abut Rajiv Joseph's Guards at the Taj, click here and to learn more about OT, click here.

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