The Writer in Residence programme is part of the Bush Theatre’s commitment to celebrating legacy and providing opportunities for writers at every level of their career. Following Trish Cooke’s inaugural residency, which was followed last year by Vinay Patel, Tanika Gupta will support the Bush Theatre’s literary and programming teams in 2023 by mentoring emerging artists, as well as writing a full-length play during her residency.
Over the past 25 years Tanika has written over 25 stage plays that have been produced in major theatres across the UK and has written extensively for BBC Radio drama. Tanika’s play The Empress and her adaptation of A Doll’s House are on the National Curriculum in the UK for GSCE school examinations.
Other theatre credits include: Out West and A Doll’s House (Lyric Hammersmith); Lions And Tigers (Wanamaker Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe); Hobson’s Choice (Manchester Royal Exchange), Red Dust Road (National Theatre Scotland, Edinburgh International Festival); A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian (Hull Truck Theatre); Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare’s Globe –Dramaturg); Anita and Me (Birmingham Rep); Love N Stuff (Theatre Royal Stratford East); The Empress (Royal Shakespeare Company); Wah! Wah! Girls – A British Bollywood Musical (Sadler’s Wells); Mindwalking (Bandbazi Theatre); Great Expectations (Watford Palace Theatre/English Touring Theatre); Meet The Mukherjees (Bolton Octagon Theatre); White Boy (National Youth Theatre/Soho Theatre); Sugar Mummies (Royal Court Theatre); Gladiator Games (Sheffield Crucible Theatre); Hobson’s Choice (Young Vic); Fragile Land (Hampstead Theatre); Inside Out (Clean Break); Sanctuary, Brecht’s The Good Woman Of Setzuan and The Waiting Room (National Theatre); Skeleton (Soho Theatre) and A River Sutra (Indoza).
Tanika’s television credits include Doctors, London Bridge, All About Me, EastEnders, Grange Hill, The Bill, Flight, Banglatown Banquet, Our Lives As Animals, The Fiancee and Bideshi.
Radio credits include adaptations of Brick Lane, Trumpet, A Passage to India, Emma, Pather Panchali (The Song of the Road), The God of Small things, A Doll’s House, The Home and The World. She has also written numerous original radio plays: The Goldilocks Zone, Death of a Matriarch, Writing The Century, The Parting, Rudolpho’s Zest, Bindi Business, Baby Farming, Asha, and many others.
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In 2008 she was awarded an MBE for Services to Drama and in 2016 was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Tanika has an honorary doctorate in the Arts from Chichester University and is an Honorary Fellow at Rose Bruford College and Central School of Speech and Drama.
Tanika Gupta said, ‘I’m very excited to be the new Writer in Residence at the Bush – a theatre which I have long admired with an artistic team which has recently been spearheading exciting, fresh, and diverse talent. The Bush theatre is at the heart of nurturing new writing, giving voice to artists and stories which have been too often ignored in the mainstream. At a time when new writing is under threat, I look forward to working with the Bush and to supporting new talent.’
Deirdre O’Halloran, Literary Manager of the Bush Theatre said, ‘’I am delighted to welcome Tanika Gupta, an artist we have long admired, to the Bush as our New Writer in Residence. Tanika is a brilliant artist with a great track record in supporting emerging talent. We are excited for the work she will develop at the Bush and to have her clear-eyed outlook impacting our programming and artist development.’
