Tamasha Theatre Company
Encyclopedia
Tamasha is a British theatre company founded in 1989 by director Kristine Landon-Smith and actor / writer Sudha Bhuchar with a mission to bring contemporary drama of Asian influence to the British stage.The company is best known for its award-winning 1996 comedy East is East
East is East
East Is East, a quotation from Rudyard Kipling's poem "The Ballad of East and West", may refer to one of the following:* East Is East , a 1999 BAFTA award-winning film...
as well as Balti Kings and Bollywood-inspired musicals Fourteen Songs, Two Weddings and a Funeral and Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë published in 1847. It was her only novel and written between December 1845 and July 1846. It remained unpublished until July 1847 and was not printed until December after the success of her sister Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre...
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Among the many well-known British Asian artists to have worked with the company are actors Parminder Nagra
Parminder Nagra
Parminder Kaur Nagra is an English actress of Indian descent. She came to international prominence in 2002 after starring in Bend It Like Beckham. She starred as Dr. Neela Rasgotra in the Emmy Award-winning American medical drama series ER for six years until the series ended on 2 April 2009...
, Jimi Mistry
Jimi Mistry
-Early life:Mistry, was born in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England to an Indian Hindu father and an Irish Roman Catholic mother. He was brought up a Roman Catholic and attended St. James' Catholic High in Cheadle Hulme before his family moved to Cardiff where he attended Radyr Comprehensive School...
, Nina Wadia
Nina Wadia
-Television and film:Wadia first came to prominence in BBC sketch show Goodness Gracious Me, playing characters such as Mrs "I can make it at home for nothing!" and one half of The Competitive Mothers...
, Chris Bisson
Chris Bisson
Christopher Paul "Chris" Bisson is a British actor.-Career:Born in Wythenshawe, Manchester, Chris Bisson first appeared on television as J.J. in Children's Ward in 1990...
, Ameet Chana
Ameet Chana
Ameet Chana is a British Indian actor. His most notable role is Adi Ferreira in EastEnders....
, Nabil Elouahabi
Nabil Elouahabi
Nabil Elouahabi , sometimes credited as Nabil Elouhabi, is a British Moroccan actor, arguably best known for his role as Tariq Larousi in EastEnders from 2003 to 2005, or as his role as "Gary", the 'kidnapped' son of a French millionaire, in Only Fools and Horses in 2002.-Career:Nabil made his...
, Ila Arun
Ila Arun
Ila Arun is a popular Indian actress, TV personality and a Rajasthani folk/folk-pop singer with a unique, husky voice and a penchant for folk-pop fusion. Her daughter is Ishita Arun.-Early life:She was born and brought up in the state capital of Jaipur...
and Zohra Segal; writers Ayub Khan-Din
Ayub Khan-Din
Ayub Khan-Din is a British Pakistani actor and playwright.As an actor, Khan-Din participated in some 20 British films and TV series in the late 1980s and the 1990s...
, Abhijat Joshi
Abhijat Joshi
Abhijat Joshi is an Indian academic and screenwriter particularly known for his work with Vinod Chopra Productions, as the screenwriter for Lage Raho Munna Bhai and 3 Idiots...
and Deepak Verma
Deepak Verma
Deepak Verma, is a British Asian actor, writer and television/film producer.- Career :Verma trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama for three years . He made his television debut in the Scottish detective series, Taggart in 1992...
; and composers Shri and Nitin Sawhney
Nitin Sawhney
Nitin Sawhney is an Indian-British musician, producer and composer. His critically acclaimed work combines Asian and other worldwide influences with elements of jazz and electronica and often explores themes such as multiculturalism, politics and spirituality...
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Since 2002, the company has run Tamasha Developing Artists - an professional development programme for emerging and established writers, directors, designers and performers.
Productions
- 2010 The House of Bilquis Bibi by Sudha Bhuchar
- 2009 Wuthering Heights by Deepak VermaDeepak VermaDeepak Verma, is a British Asian actor, writer and television/film producer.- Career :Verma trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama for three years . He made his television debut in the Scottish detective series, Taggart in 1992...
; music by Sheema Mukherjee and Felix Cross; lyrics by Felix Cross - 2008 Sweet Cider by Em Hussain
- 2008 Lyrical MC by Sita Brahmachari
- 2006 Child of the Divide by Sudha Bhuchar
- 2006 A Fine BalanceA Fine BalanceA Fine Balance is the second book by Rohinton Mistry. Set in Mumbai, India between 1975 and 1984 during the turmoil of The Emergency, a period of expanded government power and crackdowns on civil liberties, this book is about four characters from varied backgrounds—Dina Dalal, Ishvar Darji,...
adapted by Sudha Bhuchar and Kristine Landon-Smith from the novel by Rohinton MistryRohinton MistryRohinton Mistry is an Indian-born Canadian writer in English. Residing in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, Mistry is of Indian origin, originally from Mumbai, Zoroastrian and belongs to the Parsi community. Mistry is a Neustadt International Prize for Literature laureate .-Biography:Rohinton Mistry was... - 2005 The Trouble with Asian Men created by Sudha Bhuchar, Kristine Landon-Smith and Louise Wallinger
- 2003 All I Want is a British Passport by Nadim Sawahla
- 2003 Strictly Dandia by Sudha Bhuchar and Kristine Landon-Smith
- 2002 Ryman and the Sheikh by Sudha Bhuchar, Kristine Landon-Smith, Chris Ryman, Rehan Sheikh and Richard VranchRichard VranchRichard Leslie Vranch is a British comedian, actor and musician.Vranch improvises comedy on stage with the Comedy Store Players every Wednesday and Sunday at The Comedy Store in London. He has voiced British Airways TV and radio commercials since 2003, and he narrates TV documentaries...
- 2001 Ghostdancing by Deepak VermaDeepak VermaDeepak Verma, is a British Asian actor, writer and television/film producer.- Career :Verma trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama for three years . He made his television debut in the Scottish detective series, Taggart in 1992...
based on Emile ZolaÉmile ZolaÉmile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism...
's Thérèse RaquinThérèse RaquinThérèse Raquin is the title of a novel and a play by the French writer Émile Zola. The novel was originally published in serial format in the journal L'Artiste and in book format in December of the same year.-Plot introduction:Thérèse Raquin tells the story of a young woman, unhappily married to... - 1999 Balti Kings by Sudha Buchar and Shaheen Khan
- 1998 Fourteen Songs, Two Weddings and a Funeral adapted from the film Hum Aapke Hain Koun by Kristine Landon-Smith and Sudha Bhuchar
- 1997 A Tainted Dawn by Sudha Bhuchar and Kristine Landon-Smith]]
- 1996 East is EastEast is EastEast Is East, a quotation from Rudyard Kipling's poem "The Ballad of East and West", may refer to one of the following:* East Is East , a 1999 BAFTA award-winning film...
by Ayub Khan-DinAyub Khan-DinAyub Khan-Din is a British Pakistani actor and playwright.As an actor, Khan-Din participated in some 20 British films and TV series in the late 1980s and the 1990s... - 1995 A Yearning adapted from Federico García LorcaFederico García LorcaFederico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
’s YermaYermaYerma is a play by the Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca. It was written in 1934, and first performed that same year. Lorca describes the play as "a tragic poem."-Plot:...
by Ruth Carter - 1994 A Shaft of Sunlight by Abhijat JoshiAbhijat JoshiAbhijat Joshi is an Indian academic and screenwriter particularly known for his work with Vinod Chopra Productions, as the screenwriter for Lage Raho Munna Bhai and 3 Idiots...
- 1992 Women of the Dust by Ruth Carter
- 1991 House of the Sun adapted by Sudha Bhuchar and Kristine Landon-Smith from Meira Chand’s novel
- 1989 Untouchable adapted by Sudha Bhuchar and Kristine Landon-Smith from the novel of the same title by Mulk Raj AnandMulk Raj AnandMulk Raj Anand was an Indian writer in English, notable for his depiction of the lives of the poorer castes in traditional Indian society. One of the pioneers of Indo-Anglian fiction, he, together with R.K...