Tara Arts presents
THE GAME OF LOVE AND CHAI or When Rani met Raj by Nigel Planer a new version of Marivaux’s classic farce
Education Resource Pack
National Tour 2018
EDUCATION RESOURCE PACK
CONTENTS
• About The Game of Love and Chai
o Classroom Activity: Visual Analysis
• The Game of Love and Chai and the National Curriculum
• Genre and Themes: Farce, Comédie-Francaise and Commedia dell’Arte
o Classroom Activity: What is Farce?
o Did you Know? ‘The Game’ in Popular Culture
o Classroom Activity: Research and Character Analyses
o Classroom Activity: Reimagining a Text
• Characters, Archetypes and Masks
o Classroom Activity: Character Analyses
o Classroom Activity: Creative Writing
o Classroom Activity: Character Development
• Designing for The Game of Love and Chai
o Classroom Activity: Costume Design
o Classroom Activity: Set/Costume Design
o Classroom Activity: Costume Design
o Classroom Activity: Sound Design
• It Takes a Team
o Classroom Activity: Marketing a show
o Classroom Activity: Fundraising for a show
• Reflecting and Writing about a Performance
o Classroom Activity: Reflecting on the production
o Classroom Activity: Be a Theatre Critic
• The Game of Love and Chai on tour
• Further Resources and Research
• Feedback
Produced using a Creative Commons (CC) copyright licence to enable free distribution of this otherwise copyrighted work.
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ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
THE GAME OF LOVE AND CHAI or When Rani met Raj by Nigel Planer
Tara Arts presents a new version of Marivaux’s classic farce.
“Ask me, just ask me! Pucho zara pucho! It’s punishment for falling in love!”
Kamala wants her daughter Rani to marry successful but emotionally awkward businessman Raj. Rani bristles at going down the conventional route and arranges a test for Raj. She convinces her cousin Sita to swap places and pretend to be the suitable bride – unaware that Raj has come up with the same scheme with his driver, Nitin!
Actor Nigel Planer (The Young Ones, Filthy Rich and Catflap) brilliantly updates Marivaux’s classic French farce to a modern Asian family in England, employing Bollywood song and dance to delicious effect as class and passion clash when Rani meets Raj.
Featuring a cast of 6, The Game of Love and Chai opens at Tara Theatre on 28th February 2018 for 4 weeks, before a national tour.
The production is directed by Jatinder Verma and designed by Claudia Mayer.
#LoveandChai
Marivaux, along with Goldsmith and Sheridan, was one of the first Western playwrights to be produced in India in the late-18th Century. This new production forms part of Tara Arts’ Binglish project, exploring the theatrical connections between India and the West, supported by the Heritage Lottery Foundation.
Classroom Activity VISUAL ANALYSIS: Looking carefully at both sets of characters, what does our publicity poster tell you about the play?
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THE GAME OF LOVE AND CHAI AND THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM
The play explores key themes and issues that cross the National Curriculum at Key Stages 3, 4 and 5 and could be explored with young people in a workshop or classroom environment.
Though focused on the curriculum for Drama, English and Art and Design in upper Key Stage 3 and Key Stages 4 and 5, the play opens up the opportunity to talk about broader issues, including race, sex, migration, faith, wellbeing and identity. This Education Resource Pack sets out to encourage students to explore the prescient issues raised in The Game of Love and Chai by stimulating classroom activity in a ‘safe space’, inspiring deeper understanding through discussion and learning across the curriculum.
The production is aimed at audiences aged 12+.
Drama – performance techniques - using body, voice, facial expression and space; approaching a script; developing characters; interpreting and staging a scene; structure of play; understanding style/genre of theatre; analysing design and technical elements; reviewing and evaluating theatre.
English – analysing the script as a text, engaging with themes and ideas; creating written pieces in response to the play, e.g. writing autobiographically; critically analysing characterisation, setting, plot; creating spoken work in response e.g. speeches, discussions, debates.
Art & Design – three-dimensional design, textile design (set and costumes).
This Education Resource Pack has been designed to give teachers, students and workshop participants information about the play and practical classroom games and exercises to support student visits to see the theatre production at a local theatre. We have assembled a range of activities to help you reflect and work creatively, through presentation, discussion, role play and performance, improvisation and writing.
The show is touring to a wide range of theatres and regions across the country, each with its own audience and local community. This Education Resource Pack is designed to engage participants from all backgrounds.
IDEAS FOR CLASSROOM EXERCISES & ACTIVITIES are indicated throughout this Education Resource Pack
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GENRE AND THEMES
“I’ve been hooked on Indian cinema since 1973. I love its range, its daring and its ridiculous sense of fun. So when I came across Marivaux’s play - a mistaken identity comedy about the foolish things we do when we fall in love - the connection seemed obvious. With Marivaux, as with so-called ‘Bollywood’, the main thing is to completely abandon oneself and let foolishness and love take over.” (Nigel Planer, 2018)
The Game of Love and Chai by Nigel Planer is a new adaptation of The Game of Love and Chance by Marivaux. In comparison with Marivaux’s courtly French 18th century setting, Nigel Planer’s version is a modern-day rom-com about a wealthy Indian family somewhere in England.
Though written and set over 300 years apart, both writers explore themes of marriage and class, servant and master, pretence and reality, and identity and disguise.
Rani is engaged to marry Raj, a man she has never met. She is afraid to marry Raj without knowing what type of man he is. Nevertheless, Raj is planning to visit her to formalise the engagement. In order to observe Raj’s true personality during his visit, Rani asks her mother, Kamala-Ji, if she can change clothes with her servant, so that she can watch him without his knowing her identity.
The widow Kamala-Ji immediately agrees, having coincidentally received a letter from Rani’s father explaining how Raj has also planned to disguise himself as his servant in order to achieve the same goal as Rani.
Kamala-Ji sees this as a great opportunity to play the game of love and chance, allowing the two to fall in love in spite of themselves. And from here the farcical story unfolds….
Writing in Paris in the early 18th century, Marivaux was influenced by both the Comédie Francaise and the Commedia dell’arte traditions. Nigel Planer has cleverly adapted and updated Marivaux’s farcical situation comedy for modern times.
Physical comedy
The Game of Love and Chai is a very funny physical comedy which uses slapstick, pratfalls, double-takes and all-out silliness in the rom com. Similar visual jokes are used on film and TV.
Cartoons like Tom and Jerry, The Simpson’s, The Ren and Stimpy Show; movies especially rom-coms like Bridget Jones Diary, You’ve Got Mail and There’s Something About Mary; and Derry Girls, Peter Kay’s Car Share and Father Ted on TV – all of these draw on the use physical comedy to make the audience laugh.
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Farce
A farce in theatre is a comedy that aims at entertaining the audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant and improbable. Such as in The Game of Love and Chai for example, when Rani and Raj both disguise themselves as their servants, to try and expose the true character of their betrothed.
Farce is also characterized by physical humour, the use of deliberate absurdity or nonsense, and broadly stylised larger-than-life performances. Farces have been written for the stage and film.
Classroom Activity WHAT IS FARCE? Thinking about the crazy farcical situation in The Game of Love and Chai, make a list of television comedies, films or other plays that also use farce in the storytelling.
Comédie-Francaise
The Comédie-Francaise is a theatre in Paris. It was founded by a decree of the French King Louis XIV in 1680. It is thought to be the longest running theatre in the world.
The Theatre today still has its own troupe of actors. But it is probably best known for producing the comedies of French dramatists Molière and Marivaux.
You can see from the grand architecture, series of gilt balconies and plush red velvet seats, Comédie-Francaise was designed to tell the stories of the upper classes of 18th century France.
The playwrights – including Marivaux whose early plays were written for the Comédie- Francaise – took delight in mocking the pretensions of class in wealthy French society. In satirising the master and servant classes of France, the playwrights were also poking fun at their bourgeois audience in the theatre.
Commedia dell’Arte or Comédie Italienne
This was a theatrical form that flourished throughout Europe from the 16th to the 18th century. Outside Italy, the form had its greatest success in France, where it became the Comédie- Italienne. In England, elements from it were naturalised in the harlequinade in pantomime and in the Punch and Judy show, a puppet play involving the Commedia dell’Arte character Punch.
This style was based on improvised performances within sketches or scenarios. A commedia would therefore be both scripted and improvised. Characters’ entrances and exits would be
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EDUCATION RESOURCE PACK scripted. A special characteristic of commedia dell'arte are the lazzi. A lazzo is a joke or "something foolish" or "witty", usually well known to the performers and to some extent a 'scripted' routine. Another characteristic of commedia dell'arte is pantomime, which is mostly used by one of its stock characters, Arlecchino (Harlequin). The stock characters of the commedia usually represent fixed social types such as foolish old men, devious servants, or military officers full of false bravado. The main categories of these characters include servants, old men, lovers, and captains. The characters are exaggerated "real characters", such as a know-it-all doctor called Il Dottore, a greedy old man called Pantalone, or a perfect relationship like the Innamorati (lovers).
Though Marivaux was associated with both the Comédie-Française and the Commedia dell’Arte, he achieved most success in his work for the latter. The Game of Love and Chance was first performed at the Commedia dell'Arte.
His most well-known work is Arlequin poli par l’amour (Harlequin, Refined by Love), a one-act romantic comedy in which a fairy tries to convince Harlequin to fall in love with her.
The classic characters in Commedia dell’Arte were:
Arlecchino / Harlequin Servant (sometimes to two masters)
Il Dottore Head of the household
Il Capitano Cowardly military man
Innamorati High class, hopeless lover
Pantalone Older wealthy man
Colombina Bright maid / servant
Pierrot Sad clown
Other archetypes include the scheming witty servant, the beautiful leading lady or the foolish old man who is mocked by younger characters.
Marivaux and Nigel Planer have both been influenced by this form of comic theatre.
THE GAME OF LOVE AND CHANCE THE GAME OF LOVE AND CHAI
Monsieur Orgon (father) Kamala Arora (mother)
Mario (Silvia’s brother) Sunny (Rani’s brother)
Silvia (the Orgon’s daughter) Rani (Kamala’s daughter)
Dorante (Silvia’s suitor) Raj (Rani’s betrothed)
Lisette (Silvia’s maid) Sita (Rani’s cousin)
Arlequin (Dorante’s valet?) Nitin (Raj’s driver)
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DID YOU KNOW? Marivaux's play Le Triomphe de l'amour (1732) was filmed in English in 2001 as The Triumph of Love, starring Mira Sorvino, Ben Kingsley, and Fiona Shaw. It is, so far, the only one of Marivaux's plays ever to be filmed in English (there have been many French film and television adaptations of his plays).
In the French film L'Esquive (2003), directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, Arab-French adolescents in a Paris suburb prepare and perform Marivaux's play Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard.
Classroom Activity RESEARCH & CHARACTER ANALYSES: Research Commedia dell’Arte to find out about the archetypes used in the popular Italian comic storytelling. From the list above, can you work out the parallel characters in Commedia dell’arte used by Marivaux and Nigel Planer in The Game of Love and Chai?
Post-show classroom questions What is the cultural, social and political setting to Nigel Planer’s play? Are these factors important to the story?
Classroom Activity REIMAGINING A TEXT: Nigel Planer has adapted Marivaux’s farcical situational comedy for modern times. Try reimagining one extended scene from the play (or two short scenes) in the style of Brecht or Stanislavsky.
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ARCHETYPES, MASKS and CHARACTERS
Both Marivaux and Nigel Planer take similar approaches to develop the storytelling, using a range of larger-than-life characters and archetypes in their respective versions of the narrative.
An archetype is a character considered to be a perfect example of a particular type of person. For example: Kamala-Ji is a typical widowed mother, or Rani is a typical spoilt young lady or Sita is a typical down-trodden working-class cousin.
Read out-loud this short exchange between Raj and Nitin. Nitin is Raj’s chauffeur. In this scene Nitin is already dressed in disguise as Raj.
NITIN ENTERS in over-the-top clothes
NITIN (entering carry in a case and some car keys) Ah! Here you are South, Old chap! Southy, Southy boy! How have they been treating you?
RAJ They’ve been treating me, Sir. (to Nitin) What are you wearing?
NITIN Good, good, good! Did they show you where to park the Porsche? Capital, capital. Here’s keys. (tosses Raj some keys)
RAJ …. Porsche? What Porsche?
NITIN Fetch my case.
RAJ You have your case.
NITIN No, my this is my other case. My Mithai case! Sweeties!
Mithai are delicious Indian sweet meats, made with a range of ingredients including condensed milk, pistachios, ground cashew, mango, berries and coconut.
Masks
“Give a man a mask and you discover his true character” Oscar Wilde.
Masked balls were popular in the early 18th century, taking place at the Opera in Paris and at the Comedie-Francaise. These events “afforded individuals much-needed moments of social, sexual, and psychological liberty. Most importantly, by dispensing with artificial barriers and constraints, these masquerades provided a formal framework for individuals of different classes, sexes, and ages to co-mingle. The switching of roles and class reversals had the effect of temporarily unifying participants by levelling any social disparities that existed between them.” (Wyngaard)
Many plays employ masks, or the motif of disguise or mistaken identities, such as Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing (1599). Can you think of any others?
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Classroom Activity CHARACTER ANALYSES: Given that Nitin is pretending to be Raj i.e. the servant is pretending to be the master, and he is wearing an ostentatious costume and playfully referring to Raj and ‘Old chap’. What do you think Nitin’s point of view is of Raj? CREATIVE WRITING: Does Nitin’s joking and poking fun at Raj give us an insight into Nigel Planer’s (the playwright) point of view of class pretension and status? Imagine you are the playwright. Write a short scene from two different perspectives, e.g. Rani and Kamala Ji.
Characters
SITA; (heaving a big sigh) Aaah.
RANI: (misunderstanding Sita’s sigh) Yeah, right. What a creep, yuh?
SITA: I didn’t think he was that bad.
RANI: Well, you wouldn’t would you? Each to her level, I suppose. He’s nowhere near good enough for me.
SITA: You haven’t given him a chance.
RANI: Are you out of your mind? One glance at him is enough to know he’s a complete cretin. But evidently Ma doesn’t agree, because she’s skulking around avoiding me, hoping I’ll come round. Look, you’ve got to get me out of this. I want you to turn him down and send him away.
SITA; Sorry Rani, but I can’t do that.
RANI: Can’t? What’s stopping you?
SITA: Your Mata-ji, Mrs Arora forbade me to turn him down. Just now.
RANI: Forbade you? What nonsense! My Ma never forbade anything in her life, everyone knows that.
SITA: Well, she forbade me.
RANI: I’m putting you in charge of telling this pharmaceutical oaf what I really think of him. Put it however you like, I don’t want to see him again, he’s an idiot and there’s an end to it.
SITA: Well, he seems really nice to me. Like really nice…
RANI: Well, I’m telling you he’s a moron.
SITA: All your Ma-ji asked was that you take some time to get to know him. He’s gorgeous when you get to know him, honestly.
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RANI: I hate him already. I don’t need more time to hate him some more.
SITA; Ooh. Hate him eh? That’s a strong word. A very passionate word.
RANI; Oh please!
SITA: What about his driver? Mmm? What about him? Aren’t you just repeating what he’s told you to say? That driver’s been working you, hasn’t he?
RANI: How dare you say that! The driver? South?! What’s it got to do with him? It’s got nothing to do with him! Ha! What makes you think that? That’s ridiculous!
SITA: I think he’s just a smooth-talking lady’s man. I think he’s playing you like a gigolo.
RANI: Give me a break, Sita. I’ve hardly spoken to the man. But I have to say from the little I do know, he seems a very sound and sensible guy.
SITA: I think you’ve just fallen for his smarmy-charmy looks. It’s funny, I thought you were smarter than that.
RANI: Oh I see! Now it all comes out! It’s really good we changed places isn’t it, because now I can see what you really think of me! Trying to get me to defend a perfectly decent man – who’s perfectly capable of defending himself by the way - just so you can say I’m typical gullible female.
SITA: Oh sorry. I didn’t realize it mattered so much to you. Since you seem to care so much about it, I won’t say another word. My lips are sealed.
RANI: What are you insinuating, cousin?
SITA: I’ve never seen you in such a state, and I’m just a bit puzzled, that’s all. But, I’m sure you must be right, Rani. You’re always right.
RANI: Oh my God! That’s outrageous! What’s got into you? That is so… so… oh… I can’t… (she sobs a little)
SITA: Rani lost for words. There’s a first. Truth always hurts the most. What really matters is that everyone else thinks what you think. So alright, he’s a really decent guy. There.
RANI: That is so unfair! I don’t care what anyone else thinks of the stupid driver, alright? I don’t care what I think of him! Which I don’t! I don’t think of him, alright! I don’t think about anything any more. What’s happening?
SITA: You’ve changed.
RANI: I’ve changed? I’ve changed? Oh go away, leave me alone.
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SITA; I was leaving only.
SITA EXITS
(towards the end of the following speech from Rani, Raj enters and tries to pluck up the courage to speak to Rani)
RANI; God I’m still shaking. Bloody Sita! How dare she! Why would I defend a guy like South? Some smart-ass lothario who thinks he’s God’s gift. I wouldn’t. Would I…
Classroom Activity CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: Continue Sita’s monologue above, weaving in a back-story for her character. Why is she so frustrated in the scene (before Sita leaves)?
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DESIGNING FOR THE GAME OF LOVE AND CHAI
Pre-show classroom questions Why are there two different types of costumes on the poster? What colours has the designer used? What effect do these colours have? What textures has the designer used? What does the choice of hairstyle add to the costume? What do the costumes tell you about the social class of the characters? What assumptions do you make about the characters from how they are dressed?
Kamala Arora (Rani’s widowed mother). Came to England from the Punjab with her husband Victor. Victor died some years ago. The Aroras (Kamala’s family name) were successful and able to give their children the best of everything. (The suffix “ji” attached to Kamala’s name – eg., “Kamala-ji” – is a mark of respect, a form of addressing elders.)
Pre-show Classroom Activity COSTUME DESIGN: From Nigel Planer’s thumbnail description of Kamala-Ji (above), design a costume for the character. What would a fashionable Punjabi woman who has been living in England for several decades wear? You may need to search for photographs online or talk to others in your class. You will need to decide if Kamala-ji will be wearing contemporary Western clothes or traditional Indian costume.
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Gathering design ideas
Designers in theatre often use a Mood Board to present initial creative ideas for costume or set designs to the Theatre Director and Producer. A mood board can use photographs, drawings, short phrases, images from magazines and colour, even pieces of fabric and materials. Let your imagination run free.
Below are very different examples of mood boards from other productions by different designers of different shows.
@ Lyn Rose copyright @ Edward Evans copyright http://www.lynnrosegarden.com/oedipus-re/ https://edwardevansgraphicdesign.wordpress.com/
Classroom Activity SET/COSTUME DESIGN: Imagine you are the Set or Costume Designer for the production. Put together a mood board that exemplifies your ideas for the design – think about the period the show is set in, its location and different scenes in the play, and importantly, imagine the mood and feelings you wish to suggest in the production design.
Classroom Activity SET DESIGN: Create a groundplan for the set as you remember it. What would you do differently?
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Bollywood Music and Sound Design in the Show
In this theatre production, Nigel Planer has chosen a range of songs and music from popular Bollywood films to underscore scenes and help the create atmosphere and mood in the story.
We have created SPOTIFY PLAYLIST for The Game of Love and Chai of the popular Bollywood songs that are used in the show. Click on the link to listen to the music.
The songs include a series of popular classics from old and new Bollywood movies. You can also see clips of these classic Bollywood films on You Tube
Sola Button Meri Choli Hai from the film Darr
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_hGfAEPp50
Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast from the film Mohra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek17-Sh7jtA
Doob ke dariya main, kar lungi khudkushhi from the film Saajan Chale Sasural
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m94waK0lMVo
Classroom Activity SOUND DESIGN: Option 1 – Take a look at a script that you have previously studied. Split class into groups and assign each group a scene from the play. Each group should make a playlist to best match the mood of their scene. (Extra: groups act out the scene with the music.) Option 2 – As a class, watch YouTube clips of well-known films/TV with the mute button on. How do you create different atmospheres with music? Maybe it’s a murder scene – what would happen if you played a nursery rhyme over the top? A scene of happiness – what would happen if there was angry, dark music played over the top? Discuss 2-3 films/TV shows where music is used to unsettle the audience (e.g. Peaky Blinders, Twin Peaks, Chucky, Clockwork Orange).
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IT TAKES A TEAM
THE CREATIVE TEAM
Writer Nigel Planer actor, comedian, novelist and playwright, Nigel is best known for his role as Neil in the cult BBC comedy The Young Ones and as Ralph Filthy in Filthy Rich & Catflap. He has appeared in many West End musicals, including original casts of Evita, Chicago, We Will Rock You, Wicked, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He has also appeared in Hairspray. He won a BRIT award in 1984 and has been nominated for Olivier, TMA, What's On Stage, and BAFTA awards. https://nigelplaner.co.uk/
Director Jatinder Verma was born in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania and grew up in Nairobi, Kenya. He migrated to Britain in 1968 and co-founded Tara Arts in 1977 where he remains its Artistic Director. He is known his unique “Binglish” cross-cultural theatre style, where Asian theatre sensibilities meet European drama. In 1990, Jatinder became the first non-white director at the National Theatre, staging his own adaptation of Molière’s Tartuffe.
In 2017, Verma was awarded an MBE for services to Tara Arts and diversity in the arts.
Designer Claudia Mayer grew up in a village in Central India. She trained as a designer with Percy Harris at Motley and has worked freelance in opera, ballet and theatre. Work for Tara Arts includes: Miranda, Marriage of Figaro, An Enemy of the People, The Merchant of Venice, Journey to the West (a trilogy), a Ramayana Odyssey, The Domestic Crusaders, Macbeth, Dick Whittington Goes Bollywood and two large-scale events in Trafalgar Square. She helped in the design and look of the new Tara Theatre, including sourcing all the antique doors from India.
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Classroom Activity MARKETING: For a production to be successful, it takes many people to make it work. Imagine you’re at the point where you have the cast set, the director is well versed on the script and the stage manager is ready. The dates for the show have been decided, and the designer has started on the set, with the Lighting and Sound Designer in toe. Now what to do? An audience! How do you get people to the show? Having an audience is extremely important for performance, and without one, it can really impact the production’s morale and finances! Pick a film, TV show or play you like, and think about how you might market it. - Target audience, what kind of person would most likely want to see your show? - Printed advertisement and distribution - Social media, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: write 3 posts for each platform, enticing people to your show. Don’t forget to use hashtags to reach your target audience. - Press: draft a Press Release. Who would you send it to? Pick 3 publications you might want to reach out to. How would you pitch your show?
Classroom Activity FUNDRAISING: Making a production and touring it round the country like The Game of Love and Chai costs around £100,000. Tara Arts (the producers) earn income from ticket sales and selling merchandise (programmes, t-shirts etc.) About 50% of the income would come from earnings, and the balance will be made up from fundraising. Imagining you are the Producer, how would you raise money for your show?
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REFLECTING & WRITING ABOUT PERFORMANCE
Theatre critics write about plays they have seen at the theatre. These reviews often appear in newspapers and online blogs such The Guardian, The Times and The Daily Telegraph.
WRITING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE
You will need to think about the following: Why does a director make certain choices? How does the lighting, costume and set help to tell the story? Watch carefully and write notes after the play. These questions will help you:
THE STAGE
Q: What can you see on the stage?
COSTUME
Q: What colours and styles are being used?
Q: What else do the costumes tell us about the characters?
LIGHTING
Q: What colours and shades of colour are being used?
Q: What levels of brightness are being used and why?
Q: When do the lights change?
THE PERFORMERS
Q: Which actors do you think were well-cast and why?
Q: Did main characters have a good on-stage relationship? How did their performance help you to understand the play?
Q: How do the actors use the set?
Q: How do the actors relate to the audience?
THE MUSIC
Q What did the music make you think and feel? Did it seem appropriate?
AND LAST BUT MOST IMORTANTLY
Q: What does the play make you think, feel, want to talk about?
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Classroom Activity REFLECTING ON THE PRODUCTION: Drawing on your memory, as well as the still images, discuss the overall production, focusing on the following: script, set design, costume design, acting (individually and as an ensemble). Explain what you might have done differently.
Classroom Activity THEATRE CRITIC: Write a short review/article on the production for a publication or website of your choice. When writing, comment on how the actors support the themes of the piece, and how the set design, costumes, and lighting create atmosphere.
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ABOUT TARA ARTS
“Over the years Tara Arts has proved itself a uniquely seductive British theatre company. Its blend of East and West continues to inspire an alluring vision of modern Britain.” (Hanif Kureishi, CBE)
Tara Arts is a multicultural theatre company and arts venue based in Earlsfield, London.
The word Tara has a number of meanings: • In most North Indian languages ‘Tara’ means 'star' • In Buddhism ‘Tara’ is the Goddess of Love and Art • In Ireland, the ‘Hill of Tara’ is an ancient seat of power
Tara Arts connects worlds.... Tara Arts’ cross-cultural shows range from the classics to new commissions. Productions are always created with a strong visual sensibility and often include live music. Tara Arts has extensive experience of international touring having previously taken shows to Japan, France, Belgium, India, Australia.
(production photograph of Macbeth, Tara Arts & Black Theatre Live, tour 2015)
In May 2018, Tara Arts will present a month-long festival of events to mark 100 years of women’s suffrage, including a performance of Doll’s House, as well as comedy, music and talks. Later in the year, the company will present a Black Theatre Season, followed by Bollywood Aladdin in December.
When was the theatre founded?
On 4th June 1976, Gurdip Singh Chaggar, a 17-year old Sikh boy living in Southall, West London, fell victim to a racist murder. Out of the outcry surrounding his death, an Asian public presence emerged in Britain, with a variety of Asian civil liberties movements springing up in all the major British cities. The company was founded during this time, by young Wandsworth residents: current Artistic Director Jatinder Verma, along with Sunil Saggar, Ovais Kadri, Praveen Bahl and Vijay Shaunak.
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Reopened in September 2016 by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan (following extensive renovations), Tara Theatre has garnered a range of awards, including The Stage Sustainability Award, London Construction Best Project Design Award.
“Nigel Planer’s version of Marivaux’s classic farce brings to the fore my abiding interest in connecting the worlds of East and West – connections that have enriched the theatrical cultures of both halves of the planet. Nigel’s new play brilliantly re-imagines Marivaux for today’s multicultural audiences, bringing a touch of India to this comic clash of passion and class.” (Jatinder Verma on The Game of Love and Chai)
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JOIN OUR NETWORKS & FOLLOW THE PRODUCTION ON TOUR
Tara Arts @Tara_Arts #LoveandChai
World Premiere
Touring Spring 2018
Some of the theatres have accompanying matinees, discount tickets for school groups and post-show Q&A sessions with the actors and director on tour. Do please check when contacting the venue’s box office.
Wed 28 Feb to Sat 24 March TARA THEATRE 356 Garratt Lane, Earlsfield, London SW18 4ES Box Office: 020 8333 4457
Thurs 29 to Sat 31 March THE LOWRY Pier 8, Salford Quays, 3M50 3AZ Box Office: 0843 208 6000
Wed 18 to Sat 21 April QUEEN'S THEATRE Billet Lane, Hornchurch, RM11 1QT Box Office: 01708 443 333
Tues 24 to Sat 28 April BELGRADE THEATRE Belgrade Square, Coventry, CV1 1GS Box Office: 024 7655 3055
Tues 1 to Sat 5 May WEST YORKSHIRE PLAYHOUSE Playhouse Square, Quarry Hill, Leeds, LS2 7UP Box Office: 0113 213 7700
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EDUCATION RESOURCE PACK
FURTHER RESOURCES & RESEARCH
We hope the production has inspired you and the students to learn more about The Game of Love and Chai and different theatre performances and cultures. You may wish to encourage students to undertake their own research online by visiting theatre websites and exploring their archives. Here are some useful pointers:
Tara Arts see our digital theatre archive this website has been supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. TARA ARTS DIGITAL THEATRE ARCHIVE
Black Theatre Live tours archive BLACK THEATRE LIVE TOURS
BBC Bitesize BBC BITSE SIZE SCHOOLS ENGLISH LITERATURE
Digital Theatre DIGITAL THEATRE
British Library theatre sound archive recordings SOUNDS AT THE BRITISH LIBRARY ARTS LITERATURE AND PERFORMANCE
V&A Theatre & Performance collections V&A THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE
BLACK CULTURAL ARCHIVE Brixton-based archive and exhibition centre for diverse range of Black cultural resources
The BLACK PLAYS ARCHIVE, hosted by the National Theatre archives
Warwick University BBA Shakespeare, BRITISH BLACK & ASIAN SHAKESPEARE
South Asian Diaspora Arts Archive, SADAA
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EDUCATION RESOURCE PACK
FEEDBACK FORM
If you have found this pack useful, please take a moment to give us your feedback.
What year group are your pupils in? Which subject do you teach?
Which pages/sections did you use with your pupils after the performance?
Which resources will you use in future schemes of work?
Was the level of this pack appropriate for your pupils? (If not, please explain how we could have made it better)
Is there any other information you would have liked, in order to enhance your students’ experience of the performance?
Any other comments?
Please return to Tara Arts at the freepost address below or email [email protected]
Freepost RRKJ-GLAR-ZCEG Tara Theatre 356 Garratt Lane London, SW18 4ES
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EDUCATION RESOURCE PACK
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