by Mariam Manneh
Freelance Journalist

They say the best things in life come in small packages. And if British Sri Lankan actress Amara Karan is the gold standard for this British saying, then this assertion must be true.

At just 24, and standing just 5ft 3 inch tall, the exceptionally pretty Karan recently starred in Royal Shakespeare Company’s play ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ at the Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon.

As a first foray into a professional theatre role, it is proving a great platform for Karan to cut her teeth in one of Shakespeare’s best known if controversial plays.

“The play looks at how society treats women,” she says. “It teaches us how women negotiate and deal with society in different ways. Bianca goes along with things and Kate [The Shrew] questions what goes on in society.”

Amara adds: “She [Bianca] keeps her father sweet. However, she is daring at the same time, running off with her lover Lucentio to get married.

Taming of The Shrew ended its run at Stratford upon-Avon at the end of September. But the production will be touring the country over the next few months with an autumn stint at the Newcastle Theatre Royal from the 6 October until 26 October 2008.

The play then comes to London early next year. Performances will be taking place at the Novello Theatre in London from 12 February to 7 March 2009.

But Ms Karan is no one-trick pony. As well as treading the boards, she has also done a fair amount of film work appearing in both St Trinians and the critically-acclaimed Darjeeling Limited in 2009.

She is keen to point out she likes to work across all acting genres; and that it’s the quality of work that counts for her.

“In St Trinians I played Peaches. St Trinians was a big commercial success and Peaches was a fun, popular character to play. I think I could be a role model to lots of young people, especially since that role.”

She was also an Olympic torch flame bearer in the run up to the Beijing Olympics. “I hope I inspire Asian actresses and actresses of all denominations. I hope I am inspiring generally to people in Asian communities and all communities.”

Karan has recently completed a radio play. But it seems she will barely be off our TV screens this autumn either.

In late September she appeared on Poirot, on ITV at 9pm, playing Princess Shaista, an Arab school at an English boarding school. Later in the autumn Karan can also be seen in period drama, The Marchioness. She plays a young society lady looking forward to getting married.

Amara fondly talks about her favourite and most powerful character to date. A woman who cuts across definitions of class, ethnic background and creed: train stewardess Rita from Darjeeling Limited.

“Darjeeling Limited was an art house film starring Owen Wilson. My character Rita was totally off-the-wall and very very sexy. You can’t fit Rita into any boxes and that’s what I loved about playing this character. It’s sometimes thrilling to defy expectations.”

Rita may defy expectations, but it seems a pretty safe bet that new and shiny bright-young-thing Amara Karan, will also continue to do the same for quite some time to come. Watch this space.

———————-
Mariam Manneh is a full time journalist with a particular interest in arts and culture reporting.