Earlsfield's Tara Theatre Unveils Its New Building
With a debut autumn season and a new website
This autumn Tara Theatre will open its specially sourced Indian doors as London’s new home for multicultural theatre. A new website also goes online today as the opening season of work is announced.
Inside the new theatre
Opening the season is a co-production with Theatre Accord of Paradise of the Assassins (15 September to 8 October). Based on a 19th century novella by Indian polymath and communist Abdul Halim Sharrar, Paradise of the Assassins is the first theatrical staging of this resonant tale of a young man seduced into a terrorist creed, before love redeems him. This story for our times is adapted by award-winning director Anthony Clark, who directed Tara’s first ever production at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, The Lion’s Raj, in 1982.
Tara’s on-going national collaboration with regional theatres under the Black Theatre Live umbrella, showcases two productions: Britain’s first all-black Hamlet (25 – 29 October), directed by Jeffrey Kissoon, and Ambreen Razia’s return to London following a successful UK tour with The Diary of a Hounslow Girl (1 – 3 November), an acerbic comedy told through the sharp, straight-talking voice of an aspirational 16 year old British Muslim girl.
Collaborations continue with Anglo-Japanese children’s theatre company A Thousand Crane’s magical Shakespearean adventure for children, Round the World in 40 Minutes (22 October) and new company Leviathan Goat’s comic take on Thin Lizzie’s Phil Lynott entitled Vagabonds (4 – 5 November) which sees actor Robert Mountford explore how his own life story echoes Thin Lizzie’s front man.
The season ends at Christmas with Tara’s traditional panto-with-a-twist, which this year sees Jack and the Beanstalk re-invented as Bollywood Jack.
As Tara Theatre’s first shows go on sale, a new approach to ticketing will be introduced through a dynamic pricing model that will reward loyal audiences with the best ticket prices. A new Friends, Mentors and Makers scheme is to offer generous discounts, priority booking and opportunities to get hands-on experience shaping the next productions at Tara. Box Office services will be provided through a partnership with fellow South West London venue Battersea Arts Centre, who hosted Tara’s very first-ever production in 1977.
Speaking as the season goes on sale, Tara’s Artistic Director Jatinder Verma said, “Connecting the worlds of story and imagination have been in Tara’s DNA since our first play in Battersea in 1977. Our new programme of work echoes both our history and the architecture of the new Tara Theatre, welcoming artists and audiences through our doors.”
Tara are renowned for cross-cultural theatre, both through adaptations of classics and new writing. The company was founded in 1977 by Artistic Director Jatinder Verma and will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2017.
Tara Theatre is at 356 Garratt Lane, SW18 4ES
August 3, 2016