"British Asian Theatre: from Past to Present" 10-13 April 2008 University of Exeter Department of Drama Conference Abstracts
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
British Asian Theatre: from Past to Present A major international conference at the University of Exeter I 10-13 April 2008 University of Exeter, Department of Drama (Roborough Studios and the Alexander Building) © Suresh Vedak Incorporating: Celebrating British Asian Live Arts Independent Stories Am I In Tune? An exhibition commissioned by Asian Arts Agency New performance commission with poet Shamshad to commemorate 60 years of India and Pakistan’s Khan and musician Kuljit Bhamra. Independence. Friday 11 April, 8.00-10.00pm, Phoenix Centre, Thursday 10 – Sunday 13 April, SR1, Alexander Building, Gandy Street, Exeter. Drama Department, University of Exeter. Mr. Quiver Live Asian Music 4 hour durational performance by Rajni Shah Theatre. Experience ghazals, bhajans and live Asian music with In the final performance of this highly acclaimed production, local artists Tim Jones, Ricky Romain and Jon Sterckx live artist Rajni Shah metamorphoses between Queen (formerly of ‘Dhani’); and Pooja Angra and Bradford Elizabeth I and an Indian bride to bring to life the tensions musicians Najam Javed and Shabaz Hussain. and politics of colonialism and the complexity of identity. Thursday 10 April, 7.30-9.00pm, Roborough Studios, Saturday 12 April, 10.30am, TS3, Alexander Building, Drama Department, University of Exeter. Drama Department, University of Exeter. "British Asian Theatre: From Past to Present" 10-13 April 2008 University of Exeter Department of Drama Conference Abstracts Naseem Khan, author of The Arts Britain Ignores Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained…? British Asian Theatre over 30 years When Madhur Jaffrey emerged from drama school in London in the 1950s, she discovered that hardly any work was offered to her. So she turned to a second string in order to earn a living. She was not alone. Quite a number of actors from the ex-Colonies found that Britain might train them but it would not employ them. Sixty years on and a new century has just taken us into the official Year of Intercultural Dialogue, with all its assumptions of busy cultural conversations. Who are the voices, and is there indeed a conversation? Naseem Khan wrote ‘the Arts Britain Ignores’ in 1976, the report that is widely seen as opening the doors to discussions around British identity and cultural diversity. She was Theatre Editor of Time Out and ‘fringe theatre’ columnist for the Evening Standard, coordinator of the alternative Festival of India in 1985 and more recently Head of Diversity at Arts Council England. Jamila Massey Jamila Massey is Britain’s longest-serving Asian actress whose distinguished career in the UK stretches over 50 years. Her theatre credits include: Chaos, and Calcutta Kosher (Kali Theatre/Theatre Royal Stratford East); Women of the Dust (Tamasha Theatre/ Bristol Old Vic); The Life & Times of Mr. Patel (Leicester Haymarket); Song for a Sanctuary (Kali Theatre/Lyric Hammersmith); The Great Celestial Cow (Royal Court); Conduct Unbecoming (Canadian and UK tour); Moti Roti Puttli Chunni (Theatre Royal Stratford East/International Tour); To Anchor a Cloud (Navakala). Her television credits include: Coronation Street, Chucklevision, All About Me, Doctors, Eastenders, The Cappuccino Years, Casaulty, Arabian Nights, Perfect World, Family Pride, Albion Market, Langley Bottom, Churchill’s People, Pie in the Sky, The Jewel in the Crown and Mind Your Language. Her film credits include: Madame Sousatzka, Chicken Tikka Masala, King of Bollywood, Wild West and Sink the Bismarck. Jamila’s radio career is extensive. She has over 250 credits with the BBC, including regular roles as Auntie Satya in The Archers and Poornima in Westway, in addition to a wide range of radio dramas. She has co-written three books on classical Indian music and dance, and a novel with her husband Reginald Massey. She was the recipient of the Nazia Hassan Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2005 received a Lifetime Achievement Award for Services to the Performing Arts at the Houses of Commons. In 2008 she was Artist-in-Residence at the Wolfsberg think tank, Switzerland. Running throughout the conference (10 - 13 April) Independence Stories Exhibition, SR1 A new exhibition ‘Independence Stories’, commissioned by Asian Arts Agency to commemorate 60 years of India and Pakistan’s Independence The exhibition seeks to identify the personal “Independence” stories of Bristol based people from South Asian backgrounds and is a collection of digital short stories that reveal recollections of life in India and Pakistan, and the legacies of partition. The stories based on India’s partition, reflects vivid memories of chaos, migration of life, conflict of war, separation, reunion, and the enormous trauma millions of people went through as a result of the partition. The original stories are provided by Bristol based Harinder Singh, Amir Ahmed, Gurdial Kaur, Bhupi Bowri, Kanta Nandwani and Tajinder Dhami. Bristol based visual artist Tajinder Dhami has worked with Aikaterini Gegisian from Watershed to transform the stories into digital artwork that will be in the form of voice-overs, interviews, still and moving images, drawings and sketches, animation and archives. Independence Stories is produced by Asian Arts Agency in partnership with Watershed, Bristol Stories, Asian Day Centre and The British Empire & Commonwealth Museum, and is supported by Awards for all and Quartet Community Foundation. Asian Arts Agency is an Arts development agency based in Bristol, working to promote and produce South Asian arts within South West of England through performances, workshops, film screenings, and ongoing support to artists. Reginald Massey Reginald Massey is a journalist, poet, broadcaster, writer of fiction and non-fiction, film-maker, critic and academic. In 2006 he was Visiting Professor of English at Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, and in 2008 was Writer-in-Residence at the Wolfsberg think tank, Switzerland. His many publications include: India: Definitions and Clarifications (Hansib, 2007); The Music of India with Jamila Massey (Kahn & Averill, 2006); India’s Kathak Dance: Past, Present, Future (Abhinav and Khan & Averill, 2004); Asian Dance in Britain (University of Surrey, 1996); The Dances of India with Jamila Massey (Tricolour Books, 1988); and Indian Dances (Faber & Faber, 1967). His poetry appears in two collections The Splintered Mirror and Lament of the Lost Hero and Other Poems, in addition to other anthologies. His novel The Immigrants was written with Jamila Massey. In 1977 he wrote, directed and produced the film Bangladesh I Love You, under the banner of his film company Seven Stars Films Ltd. He is former editor of Asian Post International, and An Indian Booksworm’s Journal (both London) and continues to work as a critic to Dancing Times and a number of national newspapers. Jade Yeow, De Montfort University Choreography, British Asian identity and Post-colonialism This paper demonstrates that using information and methodologies from cultural theory and policy, postcolonial theory and dance studies reveals and illuminates the issues and meanings in the choreography and performances of British Asian artists. I consider post-colonialism and its effects on particular artists and on the formation of their identities. I consider the choices that British Asian artists have in relation to cultural policy and the dialogue they initiate in a multicultural and globalized context. Many have argued that these concepts are positive and in need of protection and backing. If this is the case, it is necessary to negotiate a future that does not perpetuate colonial history and white subordination of non-western people, their culture and art forms. Dance plays a role in articulating perceptions, including self-perceptions of cultural identity. Changing definitions of ‘home’ affect the content and even the form of dance and its point of reference, with changes determined by challenges in a new and constantly self-redefining social context and new audiences’ expectations. For artists who now see Britain as their ‘home’, they become entangled in political questions and debates over multiculturalism and ’Britishness’, and therefore need to consider the objectives set by funders. The choreographic and performance work that is produced, therefore, reveals the dynamism and inconsistencies of living in Britain. While dance artists and choreographers may try to use labels, contexts and funds to make ‘serious’ art that questions and subverts, the framework in which they operate will signify a pre-determined meaning and value. Cultural policy inherently reflects and perpetuates views about the past, embodied in terms such as ’heritage’, ’tradition’ and ’mainstream’, whilst laying foundations for the future. It is my contention that whilst dance artists such as Akram Khan, Shobhana Jeyasingh and Mavin Khoo are trying to dodge categorisation and maintain artistic integrity, they create their ’own ethnicity’ that reflects the lived experience of the world; they offer up their own experiences as a person living in diaspora, in which the audience is invited to share. Ann David, Roehampton University Performing for the gods? Dance and embodied ritual in British Hindu temples. This paper investigates current embodied practice of worship in British Hindu temples and seeks to discover how dance, ritual and ‘possession’ forms are being utilised in a resurgence of ‘performed’ religious expression. Using ethnographic evidence from London Saivite temples, it questions firstly the classical dance form of Bharatanatyam,