A month long exhibition starting this week will look to challenge western media’s view of Pakistan “as a rogue nuclear state suffering from conflict, extremism, natural disaster and sporadic martial law”.

Organised by the Museum of Non-Participation, it will offer a newspaper supplement, an exhibition, a film and a diverse programme of film screenings, language classes, readings, a poetry symposium, makeovers, soap-opera script-writing workshops, talks and discussions.
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by Amardeep Sohi
Freelance Arts Journalist

Inspired by the true story of a worker who was fired for masturbating whilst on duty, writer Mina Maisuria’s comic take on life at a petrol station played to audiences in East London recently.

Girish, or ‘Gary’ as he prefers to be known, is the politically incorrect cockney manager who is at times outright racist.

He supervises Krishnan, the overworked immigrant who succumbs to his sexual needs on duty and Feroza, the gobby northern girl who stands up to her indignant boss.
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Susheel Kumar is part of an award-winning comedy series that could become the next Goodness Gracious Me. He is also acting in a new theatre production with a decidedly twisted storyline. He talks to AIM magazine about his journey through the industry.

You were recently in the BBC Radio show Fags, Mags and Bags – tell us a bit more

It’s a comedy that was written for Radio 4 and is set in a town just outside Glasgow in a cornershop. It focuses around Ramesh played by Sanjeev Kholi his sidekick Dave and his two sons Alok and Sanjay (Sanjay being the stroppy teenager and Alok, as Ramesh describes him ‘the self appointed Richard Branstons’). It’s not your typical Asian comedy, the humor really transfers well across the board. The show scooped the prize for Best Radio Comedy at the 2008 Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Awards which was a great achievement.

It features some familiar faces and voices in Scottish comedy as well as a guest spot from Nina Wadia. We’ve got a 3rd series on the way later in the year, so expect more mayhem!
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Kali theatre is looking for writers of the future. Short or full length – the London based production company is actively looking for scripts by women writers for theatre. Selected writers will receive dramaturgical support to develop their script for Kali’s next festival in 2010.
More info: www.kalitheatre.co.uk

by Anita Pati

Only two people walked out – a little noisily perhaps – from Phizzical Theatre’s enactment of Jean Genet’s The Maids – written originally in 1947 and transposed to ancient India.

And at first, it did seem hard to follow the vision of director and designer Sâmir Bhamra whose attempt at catapulting the staid language of 1930s French parlour talk to an Indian boudoir forced mental long jumps.
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Theatre group Tamasha launches its latest production – Wuthering Heights – this week in Oldham. The Bollywood adaptation of the classic novel will then tour around the UK, including the Lyric Hammersmith at the end of April.

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A poisoned teacup, a mysterious ‘Monsieur’, a profusion of flowers and two sisters caught up in a fantasy of conspiracy and murder. When left alone in the house, Claire and Solange Lemercier indulge in secret rituals of hatred and revenge, directed against their wealthy employer.

They both love and hate their mistress and are drawn daily to act out fantasies of power and submission. Will the game ever reach its conclusion and with what consequences?
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The deadline is approaching for talented performance artists to take part in the 2009 decibel Performing Arts Showcase, which will take place in Manchester from 15-18 September 2009.
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Are arranged marriages over… Is the web a new match maker?

Contemporary British Asians are moving away from the traditions of arranged marriage and are looking at new ways of finding a life partner, exploring new methods to find their soulmate. We all ask ourselves, “will I ever find the one?”, “what’s the secret to happiness?’’ “is the grass really greener on the other side?”

That is the subject of Rifco Arts’ new production: ‘Where’s My Desi Soulmate?’

It used to be so simple. Boy meets girl over a plate of samosas in Auntie Bimla’s living room.
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by Amardeep Sohi
Freelance Arts Journalist

Two Pakistani girls living in a women’s refuge in a Northern town, shackled by the past and fighting for their freedom is the setting for the latest production by Tamasha, the theatre company who first introduced us to the much celebrated East is East.

Sweet Cider follows Nosheen and Tazeem’s journey as they struggle to make sense of their fractured and troubled lives, anchored only by their friendship.

Directed by Kristine Landon-Smith at the acclaimed Arcola theatre, the play lives up to Tamasha’s reputation for exhibiting fresh new talent with an up and coming playwright and cast.
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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.
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As General Musharaff relinquishes power in Pakistan, a theatre production with a related theme starts at Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival this week.

The Dictator’s Wife, by Mohammed Hanif, is part of Invasian – a group of theatre companies featuring new British Asian writing at the Fringe. It is being produced by the Edinburgh based Wave Theatre.
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by Suman Bhuchar

The news that Sanjeev Bhaskar was going to appear as King Arthur, in a quintessentially British Musical, Spamalot – was greeted with raised eyebrows amongst the Asian theatre circles.

On the one hand was the “good on yer” great to have an Asian face in the West End, playing an iconic historical British figure, on the other, can a man who plays, Sanjeev Kumar in The Kumars at No. 42 really pull it off?

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Slough based theatre company Rifco Arts will unveil its newest comedy-drama, It Aint All Bollywood, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 3-25 August.

The play features the story of Kiran, who escapes into the colourful world of Bollywood to hide from the harshness of her own surroundings and her neurotic overbearing mother. The Bollywood songs and melodramatic moments take her into a dream world where she can escape from the issues at home.

The ring of the door bell and rekindling of an old friendship start to bring Kiran out of the films and back to reality.
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The Hackney Empire in London is hosting a season of performances exploring creativity, citizenship and culture by London’s next generation of artists
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West London theatre venue Watermans, home to numerous Asian productions over past decades, has won a small legal battle over its funding row with the Arts Council.

Earlier this year the Arts Council made a decision to withdraw its funding from the venue, puttings its future into serious jeopardy.
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Tamasha Theatre is inviting applications for its annual New Writing programme. The intensive two-week course seeks to develop the artistic individuality of its participants.

Tamasha is the award-winning company behind productions like East is East, Strictly Dandia, A Fine Balance and The Trouble with Asian Men.

Potential applicants may be a young, aspiring playwright wanting a bridge into professional employment, or an established artist looking to develop their skills in writing for theatre.
See this page for more info.

Actor Sanjeev Bhaskar is to join the cast of the multi award-winning Monty Python’s Spamalot.

He will be crowned as the new Arthur, the King of the Britons, following in the footsteps of Tim Curry, Simon Russell Beale, Peter Davison and Alan Dale.
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Dangalnama is a gripping account of sectarian rioting in India since the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984.
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Ever wondered what it must feel like to have started the Asian underground revolution? To have made 15 Bhangra albums, received gold discs and had your name in the Guinness book of records? Continue reading…

by Satinder Chohan
Playwright

I began writing my first play ‘Zameen’ after reading about farmer suicides across India and in my ancestral homeland of Punjab.

I had always imagined Punjab as a lush green, mythological land of sturdy farmers, saints and warriors but discovered that in recent years, an ‘economics of genocide’ had driven thousands of its farmers to suicide.

According to vastly underestimated official figures, 150,000 Indian farmers took their own lives between 1997 and 2007. It was a story I felt compelled to tell.
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Theatre company Rifco Arts are holding open auditions to find new singing talent. After the success of previous touring shows such as: There’s Something about Simmy, Meri Christmas and The Deranged Marriage, they are embarking on new projects and keen to find an older generation of talent.
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Writing in the Independent newspaper yesterday, columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown says British Asians don’t appreciate the arts as much as they should. She added:

British Asians today still don’t get the arts, and don’t want to either. Got better things to do. They push their young people into real jobs that bring in big bucks, or at least good brides from families with big bucks. A painter, novelist, playwright, actor, cannot be admitted into respectable or wealthy dynasties – unless, of course, there is evidence of stardom.
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Jatinder Verma, founder of Tara Arts, the British Asian theatre company, observes some stirrings of interest, but largely superficial. “Over the last two decades, people have become more comfortable, and a small number from this emerging middle class are coming in. But too few are passionate about theatre or dance. There is no understanding that the arts have intrinsic value, that they tell us who we are as a society, our relationships. We have not looked to critiquing ourselves, what our place is in this country, this world. We are not yet in love with ideas.”
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“Asian kitsch has cachet now,” says one composer who wishes to remain anonymous. “The young would rather go to fashion shows than exhibitions, listen to Britney rather than Nitin Sawhney. There are, of course, brilliant individuals who will always rise, but with no blood links, cultural pathways to and from their people. We British Asian artists are lost before we were found, and I am very depressed about the future.”

Is there a hint of truth to these accusations? Are British Asians too in love with simple entertainment and not experimental enough with the arts?

A new festival dedicated to pan-Asian culture will be part of the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year. Dubbed ‘InvAsian’, it is a partnership between production company clubWest and Tartan Silk Public Relations, with events taking place in the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh’s Quincentenary Hall.
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The Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore was inspired directly by Alice in Wonderland and Western opera when he wrote the dance opera Tasher Desh – a satirical portrayal of a society ruled by strict conventions.
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