One of the new female South Asian artistic leaders in the theatre sector in UK, is Natasha Kathi-Chandra artistic director at Tara Theatre. She recently announced her inaugural season of work at the venue and we got an inside view as this new season gets underway today…
By Suman Bhuchar
AS THE LONGEST running South Asian theatre company, Tara continues to drive change in the UK theatre landscape, addressing a lack of diversity and representation in the sector.
This season continues the tradition of the company championing a diverse range of South Asian experiences and stories and the themes explored include climate emergency, activism, humour, sexuality and identity.
Tara Theatre door by
Speaking at the launch Kathi-Chandra said that, “as a migrant who was born in Oldham to a Punjabi Mum and a part Telugu, part Konkani father and grew up in Hyderabad in the history and ancestry of the politics of India”, she understood the multifarious nature of the South Asian stories and the many threads that form South Asian identities in all its joys and complexities.
The season will begin with a new play written by Nicole Latchana and performed by the Tara Theatre Young Company which is a professional programme for 18-25 year olds looking to work in the theatre sector
The show, directed by Gavin Joseph is ‘A practical guide on how to save the world when no one f***ing else is’, is a satire on climate change “which disproportionately affects the Global South”. (It runs from 15 – 19 April 2025).
This will be followed by the NOVA* showcase on May 9 with three plays by three upcoming South Asian writers who were offered a seed commission of £1,500 to write pieces on the themes of Climate Change, Automation and War and Protest – with workshop support by writer, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti. The writers are Amin Ali, Neetu Singh and Ayan Philip (and you can see more about them in a video below).
Following this will be a world premiere for ‘Permission’ by Hunia Chawla which will be directed by Neetu Singh (the NOVA writer).
‘Permission’ is “the story of two besties who grew up in Karachi, who set a challenge to find their freedom. What does liberation mean? Who defines it?” she expanded. This show will be at Tara Theatre from May 30 to June 7 2025.
Later in the year, Kathi-Chandra will direct ‘I Dream of Theresa May’, a new play by Vivek Nityananda who was a recipient of a NOVA seed commission in 2022. It will run from November 17-29.
Set in 2013, it is story about a young gay man who wants to be a model immigrant and it explores what being British is in a hostile environment and discovers an unlikely mentor in Theresa May.
Kathi-Chandra will also be directing ‘Sweetmeats’, a story of forbidden love between two South Asian elders written by Karim Khan in association with the Bush Theatre. The date is to be announced.
Alongside this Tara Theatre will continue with its regular programmes of the South Asian play readings, its Film Club and Meet your Neighbours initiatives as it navigates the challenges of the sector, such as the cost of living and standstill funding.
Kathi-Chandra has been part of Tara since February 2022, when she was appointed associate director and joined executive director, Helen Jeffreys and the then artistic director Abdul Shayek, as a power house trio creating community, national and international creative work all through looking at the world “through a South Asian lens”.
Following the untimely passing of Shayek in August 2023, the company asked for space and a period of reflection to come to terms with the devastating news and its impact on the sector.
In February 2024 Kathi-Chandra was appointed as the new artistic director and joint CEO in a venue which had been her artistic home.
Initially, as an associate director Kathi-Chandra championed the Artists Make Space – a development programme to champion interdisciplinary international South Asian artists, which was nominated for the International Award at The Stage Awards 2023; the young company and the NOVA strands and supporting the team in its core work.
Her own journey into the arts and South Asian creativity began for her as a young teenager, who lived in Hyderabad but would come to London for summer holidays and see theatre shows.
She went on to form her own theatre company, Ingenium Dramatics in Hyderabad in 2008 to encourage young people to explore the performing arts both on and off stage, and direct her interpretations of shows such as ‘The Lion King’ and ‘Les Misérables’.
Later, she studied at Oldham Sixth Form College and went on to do a BA in Film Studies at Queen Mary University of London.
In London, she founded an arts company, Namashkar, as she was interested in South Asian female representation on stage and behind the scenes.
Here she wrote and directed ‘The Infinite Line between Dating and Dying’ about a thirty something South Asian girl in online dating. The show had two runs in London at the White Bear & Etcetera Theatre and it was self-funded.
She also wrote ‘Om Shanti F*ck’, a one woman show about a young British Hindu girl – who explores her gender and sexuality in a temple. She went on to work at Park Theatre, leading their Creative Learning programme. She has also worked across the sector as a freelance director, curator, writer and dramaturg.
As audiences look forward to the new Season, Kathi-Chandra said: “With my inaugural season at Tara Theatre I want to highlight that there isn’t just one way to ‘be’ South Asian.
“So often our identities are homogenised, but with these shows I want audiences to see the sometimes contradictory, often joyful and nearly always complex ways in which our stories are forged.”
From Wandsworth to Karachi, from the heart of a protest to making chapattis at home, Tara Theatre is all about championing new voices and nurturing South Asian and Global Majority talent.
Portait pictures by Harry Elletson
• Nova was created to support new writers and new writing and is supported by The Fenton Arts Trust.
