Musings on theatre, diversity and the times we live in...
Dark Night of the Soul
As our production of Vincent for Brixton opens at RADA, I once again reflect on the ‘dark night of the soul’ that I, perhaps inexorably, am prey to.
Tribalism
While the nation mourns the death of its longest-reigning monarch, events in Leicester yesterday remind us that tribalism supersedes nationality in its visceral power.
Binglish
Binglish is an attitude of mind, capturing the unending dialogue between the Self and the Other.
The EastAfs are here!
25 October 2022 marked not only the festival of Diwali but, more significantly, the arrival of an East African Asian to the Prime Ministership of the country – an unprecedented development in British constitutional history.
EI to EII
Between the two Queens, Elizabeth I & Elizabeth II, are bracketed Britain’s age of Empire.
Inspiring Performances
I have seen many inspiring performances over the years. The ones that stand out as beacons are:
Mohan Agashe sliding like a snake in GASHIRAM KOTWAL
Mark Rylance cock-of-the-walk in JERUSALEM
Partition
The Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 was a traumatic affair – over 2 million killed and 14 million people crossing borders. By any stretch of the imagination, the largest movement of people in human history.
Chandran Veyattummal
Chandran Veyattummal was introduced to me by the late Professor G Sankara Pillai in 1987, as part of the group of actors and kalari artists from Kerala who would join my company Tara Arts in London to produce a play based on the Mahabharata.
Shameful Patel
When the Iranian Embassy siege took place in May 1980, a friend commented on the effect such a terrorist act would have on us Asians in Britain – that we’d be tarred with the same brush.
What is a “Masterclass”?
Exploring Aeschylus’ The Persians on the last day of February this year.
Wrong side of History?
Yesterday, 2 March 2022, the UN voted overwhelmingly to condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Only 5 countries voted against – Russia of course, along with Belarus (from where Russia is staging its invasion), North Korea, Eriteria & Syria.
Mahabharata
The epic raises interesting questions about fate, while leaving its central concept of “dharma” as impossible to pin down as the British Constitution.
Indenture
A system that shipped millions of Indians to the sugar colonies of the Caribbean, South Africa, Mauritius, Fiji and Kenya-Uganda.
