First Person: playwright Tanika Gupta on being back in the rehearsal room once more
‘There is a lot of talk about de-colonising the curriculum, but we also need to de-colonise our theatres to make British theatre relevant’ – Tanika Gupta.
Playwright Tanika Gupta on her new drama about young Gandhi in London
“Gupta’s 25-year career has been remarkably wide-ranging: comedies have rubbed shoulders with historical dramas; stage plays have sat alongside scripts for television, radio and film. In person, she is warm and wittily self-deprecating; on the page she has a gift for making tough subjects accessible” – Sarah Hemming.
AI PROFILE: Making the difference
‘Tanika Gupta is not just the leading British Asian playwright, multi-award-winning with more than 20 plays performed in her 25-year career. Nor is she merely a leading British woman playwright, though she is that too. What she almost certainly is, is our most versatile writer for stage, screen and radio’
Portrait of the artist: Tanika Gupta, playwright
‘I was once called “the Asian woman Bengali writer.” I thought, why not just call me a writer?’
No more excuses for male bias, say top playwrights including Timberlake Wertenbaker and Tanika Gupta
‘Leading playwrights including Timberlake Wertenbaker, Charlotte Jones and Tanika Gupta are demanding theatre makes bigger strides to address the under-representation of female writers.’
Tanika Gupta: ‘My great uncle’s remarkable story made me want to write’
‘Ultimately the play is about Gandhi’s civil disobedience versus violent insurrection and how each couldn’t have succeeded without the other.’
The Observer guide to the best autumn culture
‘A new version of A Doll’s House, written by Tanika Gupta – who moves the action to Calcutta and invites us to look at the play’s gender politics through the lens of British colonialism.’
