Plays set to explore impact of refugees’ arrival in city
CURVE TO HOST REFLECTIONS OF UGANDA-ASIANS’ EXPERIENCES
impact of the arrival of Ugandan-Asian refugees in Leicester is to be explored in a stage show.
Curve will host three short plays between July and August to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the migrants coming to the city.
The Finding Home series is currently in the works. The short plays have been written by three local playwrights, Ashock Patel, Dilan Raithatha and Chandni Mistry, with all three shows directed by Mandeep Glover.
In August 1972, when Ugandan President Idi Amin ordered the country’s Indian and Pakistani communities to leave within 90 days, many of the displaced were British citizens and, as a result, around 27,000 people emigrated to the UK, with thousands settling in Leicester.
Finding Home details the journey of several different characters who left Uganda under the mass expulsion, and settled in the city in the hopes of a better life.
Playwright Dilan said: “There is still a gap between Asians and theatre. When we were doing prep workshops, we could tell that people were still reluctant to step foot in the theatre, and so we want to break that barrier.
“Whether they come and watch or actively take part, we want them to know it’s not a scary place. We want your voices on stage, we want even more Asian representation.”
Writer Chandni’s father is of Ugandan origin, who fled the country at the age of 14. Her work is titled
Ruka, which means leap in Swahili and stop in Hindi.
Ruka is a story geared towards younger children, and it follows a mother of Ugandan-Asian descent and her daughter Riya who are living in Leicester. As the mother plays with a spinning top, also known as a ruka, her daughter is playing a computer game, also called Ruka.
The two argue about which Ruka is better, and the story continues with Riya being sucked up into the game. Once inside the game, Riya realises she is being taken on a journey from the 1800s, when the British empire first took over India, and how the Indians fled to Africa.
The story then jumps to Riya witTHE
nessing the 1972 mass expulsion in Uganda and then finally to the present day. The plot thickens as Riya, who is still stuck in the game, realises she is playing her mother. Chandni said: “Once the daughter realises she is now her mum, the play begins to show the conflict between the Africans and the Indians, the point at which Asians were told to leave Uganda, and a family tragedy with the daughter’s father being killed.
“The two main characters have African workers who also happen to be another mother and daughter team who ultimately aid the two main characters with their escape to Leicester.
“As the two arrive in England, they meet a British mother and daughter duo who assist them in settling in the country, and getting work in a factory. The story ends back in 2022,
with the daughter being zapped back into the real world with a new-found appreciation of what her mum went through.”
Dilan is an actor and the writer of Call Me By Your Name. His family is from Kampala in Uganda, and many of his family were part of the 1972 exodus.
Growing up, the 26-year-old was engrossed with stories of the expulsion, and how his family came to settle in Leicester.
He said: “We had these massive, invaluable workshops with the community in preparation for the productions this summer, and there was one lady’s story about her identity that really stuck out to me.
“She told us that she had always struggled to understand where she belonged and who she was, despite it being decades after the exodus. I started seeing a pattern of people saying similar things. They showed me the importance of belonging to something and often for them if they didn’t have it they felt lost.”
This inspired the creation of Call Me By Your Name, a culmination of stories and flashbacks of a family’s journey from Uganda to Leicester.
The production will also show the contribution of Ugandan-Asians in developing Leicester, with the overarching theme of identity.
Ashock, a biomedical science professor, is the writer of Ninety Days. His wife is of Ugandan-Asian descent and so are his in-laws, and he recalls his time at school as one of the pinnacle moments of first interacting with Ugandan-Asians in the city.
Ninety Days incorporates scenes from 1972, leading up to the 90-day expulsion. The story follows a Ugandan-Asian family and their African workers, who are thrown into the countrywide race war.
As the Asian family flees Uganda, the story encapsulates three separate time periods. It covers their migration, their lives in Leicester 18 years later, and the present day. Ashock said: “I really wanted to explore the complex relationship between Indians and Africans, I wanted to present each side of the story. I think these stories will shape how we relate to each other, as well as the way we shape the future of our communities in Leicester.
“As we reflect back to the last 50 years, if people look back and learn something, then the show has really done its job.”
To find out more or take part in any way, email:
We want your voices on stage, we want even more Asian representation
Dilan Raithatha