THIS third of Hampstead Theatre' s online productions recaptures the political and personal moments in one of the major pivotal actions in contemporary history.

Howard Brenton's play, premiered in 2013, lays bare the tortuous and Machiavellian political decisions by Attlee's near-bankrupt post-war British government to finally discard the “white man's burden” and decolonise the Indian subcontinent.

In the process, an estimated two million were condemned to death and 12 million became refugees.

Howard Davies’ honed production brings to life the major players in the agonising decision to unravel this immense network of cultures and religions, held under British imperial subjugation over the preceding century.

In the background are Attlee and Gandhi, both in different ways detached from events, while the rival Hindu and Muslim nationalisms are fought out between Silas Carson's Nehru and Paul Bazely's Jinnah.

The key issues are whether the Punjab and the key port city of Karachi  — which has subsequently become the potential flashpoint of Kashmir — should belong to India or the soon-to-be created Pakistan.

At the centre of events is Cyril Radcliffe (Tony Beard), the hapless senior member of the British judiciary with no knowledge or understanding of India beyond a privileged education. He is chosen for precisely those reasons to solve the issues and take responsibility for an almost certainly catastrophic human suffering.

Badgered by contending claims, he draws and redraws his scribbled dividing lines with his coloured crayons like some bewildered child, asking: “How many have I just killed?”

Andrew Havill's Viceroy Lord Mountbatten, hopelessly determined to make both his mark in history and to avoid the social humiliation caused by his wife's affair with Nehru, is beyond caring what “wog” gets what.

There's an ever-changing subtext to this fine play, which has been described as a dark farce  — our knowledge of the subsequent political development of India and Pakistan.

What Brenton and Davies have achieved is that most difficult of tasks, bringing history alive on the stage and here the screen.

Online until April 19, hampsteadtheatre.com