A Picture of Health

This is the story of a painting
capturing a landmark moment in history.
Or is it the story of the subjects of the painting?
Maybe it’s the story of the painter?
Or those who are missing from the composition.

Set in Mysore, Southern India, in 1805. The story begins when princess Devajammani arrives at the royal court of Mysore to marry Krishnaraja Wadiyar III. They were both twelve years old and he was the newly anointed ruler of the Southern Indian kingdom.

But Devajammani soon found herself recruited for a more momentous cause - to publicise and promote the smallpox vaccine. What followed was a concerted mix of politics, power, and persuasion by the East India Company to introduce the world’s first ever vaccine to India, their biggest colonial enterprise.

A Picture of Healthis written by award-winning playwright Sudha Bhuchar, inspired by Irish painter Thomas Hickey’s portrait ’The Three Queens of Mysore’, which itself has been called ’one of the most important scientific paintings in the history of medicine in India’.

This edition was published published to coincide with Theatre of Debate’s schools tour starting in September 2024.

Sudha Bhuchar is an acclaimed actor/playwright/founder of Bhuchar Boulevard. As co-founder of Tamasha, with Kristine Landon-Smith, their landmark work includes A Fine Balance &the award-winning musical Fourteen Songs Two Weddings and a Funeral. Other plays include Child of the Divide (Winner Asian media awards 2018), My Name is.... (also adapted for Radio 4) & The House of Bilquis Bibi (Lorca’s The House of Bernada Alba transposed to Pakistan). Recent commissions are Touchstone Tales (RevolutonArts/Wellcome Collection) and French like Faiza (Radio3 cowritten with Ilana Navaro). Sudha has written and is appearing in her one woman show, Evening Conversations.
Acting credits include Khandan (Royal Court /Birmingham Rep), The Village (Theatre Royal Stratford East) and Lions and Tigers (Globe Theatre). TV includes Coronation street, Stella & Noughts and Crosses. Film: Mogul Mowgli, Mary Poppins Returns and Happy New Year Colin Burstead. Sudha was a finalist for BBC Radio 4’s Audio drama awards (2019) for My Son the Doctor (co- written with Saleyha Ahsan) and was awarded Eastern Eye’s ACTA award for her contribution to the Arts. As dramaturg, Sudha recently worked with Nyla Levy on Does My Bomb Look Big in This? and Tuyen Do on Summer Rolls.