Celebrating a rich canon of work, previously never revisited on the British Stage.
Retracing Our Footsteps
in association with the Royal Court Theatre
Three nights of play readings of classic works by British/South Asian writers (Pratap Sharma’s A Touch of Brightness, Hanif Kureishi’s Borderline and Harwant Bains’ Blood, celebrating a rich canon of work that is rarely seen on stage.
Curated by Bhuchar Boulevard Associate Suman Bhuchar, this retrospective features plays originally performed at the Royal Court with subjects exploring child prostitution, corruption, partition, vengeance, love, and integration.
The readings were directed by Kristine Landon-Smith, Kully Thiarai and Iqbal Khan and followed by panel discussions.
Retracing Our Footsteps is an initiative by Bhuchar Boulevard to accelerate the development of an Asian theatre playwriting archive. The archive project is supported by Professor Colin Chambers, V&A and University of Warwick.
Retracing our Footsteps was performed at the Royal Court Theatre on 30th May - 1st June 2018
Performances and Panel Discussions
A Touch Of Brightness (1967)
Written by Partap Sharma
Directed by Kristine Landon-Smith
“What? Is it troubling you that Benarsi sold you? Child, the fact that I paid so much only shows how much I value you.”
When Prema/Rukhmini is sold to a brothel in Mumbai, Pidku, a street urchin tries desperately to rescue her from prostitution.
Banned in India, this play exposes the underbelly of Indian society and the humanity within it. The original cast included Saeed Jaffrey, Zora Sehgal and Roshan Seth. Later, it was adapted for Radio 4 and featured Judi Dench as Rukhmini and music by Ravi Shankar.
Panel Discussion
Setting the Stage: Representation, Authenticity & Identity
A Touch of Brightness was dubbed by the Indian censors as damaging to the ‘image’ of India whilst acknowledging the existence of the social reality depicted. Are today’s artists burdened by the need to be ‘authentic’ and who is the judge of ‘truthful’ representation? Chaired by Sudha Bhuchar with panellists including Kristine Landon-Smith, Kully Thiarai, Sue Sharma and Satinder Chohan.
Borderline (1981)
Written by Hanif Kureishi
Directed by Kully Thiarai
“Amjad, we have made mistakes.”
“What mistakes?”
“We never realised how English she would become.”
Drawn from workshops with the Asian community of Southall in the aftermath of the Southall Riots in 1979, Borderline explores the complexity of Asian immigrant life in Britain through Haroon and Amina, two teenagers whose aspirations place them in direct conflict with their parents’ dreams for their children. The original production was by Joint Stock Theatre Company.
Hanif Kureishi CBE is a prolific playwright, screen writer and novelist with credits including My Beautiful Laundrette, The Buddha of Suburbia and Le Weekend.
Panel Discussion
The ‘ubiquitous immigrant’ as inspiration?
Hanif Kureishi talked of the issues of race, immigration, integration, and the colonial legacy as ‘cracks in the wall’ through which to view landscapes. Is the immigrant still a modern Everyman, representing the aspirations of millions? Chaired by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown with a panel including playwrights Hanif Kureishi and Yasmin Whittaker-Khan.
Blood (1989)
Written by Harwant Bains
Directed by Iqbal Khan
“Why will I only ever speak in whispers? I’ll be loyal. Yes. Forever. But where will I find the dreams we had?”
Two brothers, one adopted by his uncle, journey from the Punjab to West London to carve out a new life while remaining loyal to their land and people. Blood explores how the Partition of India shaped the lives of first generation immigrants.
The original production featured the late Paul Bhattacharjee as Balbir and Meera Syal as Surinder.
Panel Discussion
Can we talk about it? Telling Our Story
Rooted within the world of Punjabi Sikhs, Harwant Bains talked of the desire to open a dialogue with the previous generation with their proud and bloody history. When trying to capture truths of people that you are part of, can playwrights ever feel completely free? Chaired by Sudha Bhuchar with a panel including playwrights Harwant Bains, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti and Iqbal Khan.
What People Are Saying
Blood
“This initiative you’ve started is absolutely essential – not just for us to reclaim where we came from and the ferocity with which we began to express being between worlds but also for our children and also for white folk..”
— Mira Nair, Film Director
A Touch of Brightness
“It thought it was an amazing discovery. It’s a connection to the past, to writers who came before us who have basically paved the way.”
— Satinder Chohan playwright, Lotus Beauty
“It’s great that you’ve done this – you remind yourself of the history of our stories here……. they made a huge impact and they made it on the stage against all odds and they were telling stories nobody else was telling.”
— Meera Syal, Actor /Writer
“It’s wonderful to discover a play by a playwright I didn’t know about.”
— Prof. Maria Delgado, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
“It’s part of those histories which kind of constantly get forgotten… It was such interesting, sophisticated, complex piece of work.”
— Susan Croft, Curator, Unfinished Histories
Borderline
“I think it’s a really big deal…… we are representing an alternative history …. It is absolutely central to a historical understanding of the present.”
— Hanif Kureishi playwright
“It’s how it stands up as a piece of work given that Hanif was a young writer.. to be able to give such a rich and complex context to a period of time where activism and an approach to one’s identity and lived experience resonated with all of us.”
— Kully Thiarai, Director
“An incredibly powerful piece. This was written before I was born yet so much stuff still resonated for me as a young British Asian.”
— Audience member
Take a look
Retracing our Footsteps presented, Blood by Harwant Bains, which explores the impact of the Partition of India on the lives of first generation immigrants who came to the UK. The vox pop features reactions from director, Mira Nair https://www.facebook.com/themiranair/; author, actors, Sagar Arya, #AmeetChana, Vivienne Smith; actors in the original play, Gordon Warnecke and #Meera Syal.
Retracing Our Footsteps, presented Borderline by #Hanif Kureishi as the second reading at the Royal Court, and in this video we talk to audience reactions, the author, director #Kully Thiarai, Artistic Director, National Theatre, Wales, discuss the importance, impact and legacy of the play drawn from workshops in the aftermath of the Southall Riots, in 1979.
A Touch of Brightness was performed as part of 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 at the Royal Court Theatre.
Curated by Bhuchar Boulevard Associate Suman Bhuchar, this retrospective, features plays originally performed at the Royal Court, from India to the UK, with subjects exploring child prostitution, corruption, partition, vengeance, love, and integration.
A Touch of Brightness, written Partap Sharma was directed by Kristine Landon-Smith (www.kristinelandonsmith.com).
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