SIZE OF COMPANY
2–9 on the road

SCALE OF VENUE
Small- to middle-scale

PERMANENT STAFF
Artistic Director
Jatinder Verma

Executive Director
Jonathan Kennedy

Associate Director
Claudia Mayer

Administrator
Rachel Sanger

Marketing and General Administration Assistant
Rhian Hughes

Finance Officer
Sharon Zhang

ARTISTIC POLICY
Tara Arts is a cross-cultural company with over thirty years of touring experience. The company creates visual theatre, drawing on Asian theatrical conventions. The group’s physical and musical styles derive, in the main, from Indian performance techniques, which are combined with English traditions to create a ‘Binglish’ theatre experience accessible to everyone.

Tara Kidz equips children to make connections across cultures, broadening the imaginations of the young citizens of tomorrow. It uses the magic of theatre to bring the great stories of the world to children in junior schools nationally and internationally.

The stories are presented with all the vibrancy and colour associated with Asian performance techniques - including music, movement, and imaginative props.

REVIEW EXTRACTS
'In past productions of Sanskrit, French, Greek and Russian classics, Tara Arts have proved themselves the most culturally open-minded troupe in Britain.' Independent on Sunday

'Pioneering on the frontiers of an East-West theatre.' The Scotsman

'Tara Arts is the most consistently shining example in the whole of British theatre of the possibilities that lie beyond conventional realistic drama.' BBC Radio 4

CURRENT PRODUCTIONS
Nowhere to Belong Political commentator Yasmin Alibhai-Brown explores a life-long love of Shakespeare and details her own personal experience of playing Juliet as a teenager in 60's Uganda. (75 mins, 1 on stage, 2 on road)

When the Lights Went Out Two performers, using three scarves, a mask and a ribbon present a distinctive version of the Indian epic The Ramayana. (50 mins, 2 on stage, 4 on the road, suitable for children aged 6–11years)

Slavery Slavery by Jonathan Payne is a phenomenal one act play, receiving its UK premiere in the bi-centenary of the abolition of slavery. The consequences of the slave trade are brought alive through the actual testimonials of American slaves, their music and passion for life.

The Tempest Shakespeare’s last play of love, tragedy and comedy. (Approx 2 hours plus interval – tbc, 7 on stage, 9 on the road)

Theseus and the Minotaur This 50-minute presentation transports children to Ancient Greece, with its myths, monsters and mazes. Theseus vows to kill the Minotaur who’s been terrorising the kingdom. (50 mins, 2 on stage, 3 on the road, suitable for children aged 6–11years)

RECENT INTERNATIONAL WORK
2005–06 Belgium, France, Ireland, Netherlands (The Genie of Samarkand/When the Lights Went Out)

TOURING AVAILABILITY
Details on request.