TARA THEATRE ANNOUNCES NEW SEASON OF WORK

Tara Theatre has today announced plans for its next season of work. Following its relaunch from Tara Arts to Tara Theatre in 2021 under Artistic Director Abdul Shayek, 2022 will see the company produce shows and events locally, nationally and internationally of differing scales and on different platforms. Through new productions and projects, Tara Theatre will be centring women and their stories, marking the 75th Anniversary of Partition and continuing to make politically charged, innovative theatre, exploring the world through a South Asian lens. Further plans for the season will be announced soon.

The season will start with a hyper-local show working with young women and non-binary people aged 14-18 years old who will create a new devised performance by Tara Theatre Artistic Associate Beth Kapila, Our Streets, in which through film and live performance audiences will be taken on an adventure through the city, all while never leaving the theatre. Tara Theatre will then tour the critically acclaimed Final Farewell, an outdoor audio experience conceived and directed by Abdul Shayek and written by Sudha Bhuchar exploring how we say a proper goodbye to those lost in the pandemic. Next, Tara Theatre will present Silence, a new play adapted from the testimonies and stories of people who lived through partition from Kavita Puri’s acclaimed book Partition Voices: Untold British Stories and co-produced with the Donmar Warehouse. The two Bangladesh 50 projects launched in 2021 will then culminate - Artists Make Space, a major new international collaboration pairing seven Bangladesh based artists with seven UK based artists to co-create new exploratory works and Amma, a powerful virtual reality performance where Bangladeshi women’s experiences of Independence take centre stage. Tara Theatre will present Spoken Space, a quarterly night of music, poetry, spoken word, monologues and open mic. English National Opera @ Tara Theatre will present arias from both famous and lesser-known operas for one night only, questioning the artform’s historic imperial perspective. Tara Theatre will also be a hub venue for Wandsworth Arts Fringe in June 2022, and house a limited number of shows from the Vault Festival that were cancelled due to Covid-19.

Tara Theatre will be launching a new commissioning scheme that will support four new writers to start developing their first full length play, developing work for Tara Theatre’s future seasons and around the themes the company will be exploring. Successful applicants will receive a budget with support on how to use it effectively, dramaturgical support, space to workshop and write and networking and production opportunities. The window for submissions will open on 1 May, 2022 at 10:00am and close on 1 June 2022 at 11:59pm. This scheme is intended to further develop and enhance the canon of British South Asian plays and discover an exciting group of new writers. Tara Theatre will also be launching a brand new membership scheme, Agents Of Change, offering priority bookings, access to the creative process and the artists and a host of other benefits.

The shows and dates will be below:

Our Streets 8 - 10 April, Tara Theatre

Final Farewell 14 - 15 May, Brighton Festival 1 - 3 July, Hat Fair 10 - 11 September, Greenwich+Docklands International Festival

Silence 1 Sep - 17 September, Donmar Warehouse Dates to be announced, Tara Theatre Artists Make Space October 2022, Tara Theatre, Leeds Playhouse, Birmingham venue TBC, Tron Theatre and Manchester venue TBC

Amma 30 November - 17 December 2022, Tara Theatre

Spoken Space 13 May 2022, Tara Theatre

ENO @ Tara Theatre Autumn 2022, Tara Theatre

Wandsworth Arts Fringe 19 - 25 June, Tara Theatre

Vault Rehoused 24, 25 and 26 June, Tara Theatre

For more information on these visit their website: www.taratheatre.com

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