Intercultural to cross-cultural theatre: Tara arts and the development of British Asian theatre

Abstract

Developments in small scale theatre and dance sectors, from low to medium scale companies and those that started from one category and then evolved into other formats beg the question as to what the term UK small-scale' theatres really means. This national picture is repeated even more so in the huge body of innovative and often radical works, radical in terms of format, process and contexts, that take place outside mainstream theatre and the practitioners whose works derive from a combination of ideological and artistic motives. This piece interrogates the ideological, social and artistic impulses and trajectory in UK's diverse Asian population that led to the creation of theatres that addressed her lived historical experiences in Asia and the diaspora, and the journey to a distinctive Asian theatre and performance aesthetic in the UK and how the form has not only destabilised generally homogenised concept of Black British theatre and multiculturalism, but evolved important sub-categories in British Asian performances. This development sets the scene for theatre practitioners and critics, notably Jatinder Verma and Tara arts theatre to evade stereotyping and pigeon-holing whilst charting a much wider trans-national agenda for both Asian and non-European performance forms in the UK. Keywords: Diaspora, Asian, 'Binglish', Interculturalism, Multiculturalism, Trans-culturalism.