Theatre group of Indians makes waves in Britain
LONDON: Indian doctors, accountants, IT experts and others bring more than their professional skills to the United Kingdom.
Many form groups that make waves in arts, music, sports, and Eastern Thespians, a theatre group combining east-west idioms, is one of the latest.
After staging five plays on contemporary political and other themes at platforms such as Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Chelsea Theatre and Rich Mix Eastend, the group, founded in 2012, has received much critical acclaim.
Founders of the Londonbased group told Hindustan Times on Sunday that the effort is to present an image about India beyond that of Bollywood and the still largely entrenched orientalist view of Rajas, snake charmers and rope ladders.
“It has been distracting and painful to watch the rootless, tinsel world created by Bollywood films gain currency as the vanguard of Indian culture,” said Debasish Banerjee, who holds a senior position in the National Health Service (NHS).
“In this representation, other than a loud and gaudy caricature, there is little to be seen of the rich artistic and cultural tradition that had developed in India over more than two millennia and included both eastern and western influences”.
Drawing on the resources of both eastern and western life, thought, philosophy and art forms, both traditional and modern, the group's activities include staging its play Footfall this summer to raise funds for victims of the Grenfell tower blaze.
“Two of my patients died in the tower,” said Chandrayee Sengupta, also a doctor and a co-founder of the group. “Another performance is planned to raise funds for Dalai Lama’s monastery in Ladakh,” she added.