Bhuchar Boulevard in association with the Royal Court Theatre present Retracing Our Footsteps, three nights of play readings of classic works by British/South Asian writers, celebrating a rich canon of work that is rarely seen on stage.
This retrospective, features plays originally performed at the Royal Court Theatre, from India to the UK, with subjects exploring child prostitution, corruption, partition, vengeance, love, and integration.
We spoke to Sudha Bhuchar, Artistic director of Bhuchar Boulevard to find out more.
You’re bringing Retracing Our Footsteps to The Royal Court, what can you tell us about it?
Retracing Our Footsteps is three nights of play readings of classic works by British Asian/ Indian writers, celebrating a rich canon of work that is rarely seen on stage.
Curated by Bhuchar Boulevard Associate Suman Bhuchar, this retrospective, features three plays that were originally performed at the Royal Court. These are Pratap Sharma’s A Touch of Brightness, Hanif Kureishi’s Borderline and Harwant Bains’ Blood. The subjects explored include prostitution, corruption, the personal legacy of the Partition of India, vengeance, love, and integration.
The readings will be directed by Kristine Landon-Smith, Kully Thiarai and Iqbal Khan and each night is followed by a panel discussion chaired by myself and Yasmin Alibhai- Brown. The post show events will look at how these plays speak to us contemporary audiences and theatre makers.
Why was it important for you to bring this project to life?
The idea of the project came from the realisation that it was the 50th anniversary of A Touch of Brightness and not many people in the British Asian artistic community (let alone a wider fraternity of artists and audiences) had any knowledge of its existence. Mid-career theatre makers like myself come across younger writers who want to find their voice through exploring their identity and cultural history. It felt urgent for them to have knowledge of works that have come before and to bring that awareness to the wider theatre audiences. I hope this will accelerate the momentum for establishing an archive of works from this contingency of writers.
Why do you think this writing is so rarely seen on stage?
I think that people don’t really have knowledge of these works. And it is widely acknowledged that even contemporary writers of colour rarely get a second run of their plays unless they produce them themselves. I have personal experience of this and have always had to self-produce and position my work. Recently I revived my play Child of the Divide to mark the 70th anniversary of the Partition of India and I was heartened to see how resonant and relevant it still is to diverse audiences. We have now been invited to take it to the JUNIOR festival at Harbourfront centre in Toronto.
Tell us about your company Bhuchar Boulevard, and its involvement in Retracing Our Footsteps?
I launched Bhuchar Boulevard in 2017 to create heartfelt, memorable theatre that looks at our common humanity. It is an important moment for me to renew myself as an artist and to connect with Arts and non-arts partners to explore and expand my practice. My sister Suman has pioneered new audiences and championed the need for our theatre history to be more visible to all. As an associate of Bhuchar Boulevard she is curating this season and we are working together to ensure that these plays are visible and in conversation with contemporary audiences and concerns.
How has the Royal Court supported you with this?
The Royal court is co-hosting this mini festival and Vicky Featherstone has expressed her personal view that as a writers’ theatre, she is delighted that the Royal Court are able to be a partner in re-presenting some of the ‘gems’ in this canon that they were integral in hosting the premieres of. They have offered the theatre downstairs for a week and a lot of in-kind support to promote and mount the event.
You’ve had a very successful career in film and television, what made you decide to found a theatre company?
This is the second theatre company I have founded. I am the co-founder of Tamasha, with Kristine Landon-Smith and we saw it grow out of our friendship in 1989 into one of UK’s leading theatre companies that is often cited for making the cross-over of British Asian stories into the mainstream and launching many careers.
Two years after leading the succession of Tamasha; I decided to found Bhuchar Boulevard as a place for me to renew myself as an artist and to focus on projects that I am passionate about which would not happen elsewhere. I have been lucky with having a varied acting career but success in that is not incremental and too often still the stories of British Asian families are not the central narrative of a project. With Bhuchar Boulevard, I am looking through the lens of who I am in all its hues and shades.
What would you say to anyone thinking of coming to see Retracing Our Footsteps?
I would say that the evenings promise to be entertaining and enlightening and the conversations that follow will be passionate and engaged. There is chance to see works that speak viscerally to contemporary audiences and raise issues and debates that are as relevant today as when the plays were first performed.
And the evenings are great value for money and there is an opportunity to come on three consecutive nights and immerse yourself in these works and hear from a cohort of playwrights and cultural commentators including Hanif kureishi, Harwant Bains, Gurpreet Bhatti and Yasmin Alibhai-Brown for only £25.
Retracing Footsteps runs at Royal Court Theatre from May 30 to June 1. For more details and to book tickets visit https://royalcourttheatre.com
