Tara Brings The Tempest By William Shakespeare To Inverness - One To Make You Think

6th October 2007

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The Tempest - In more a modern Context
Tara Arts Presents: The Tempest - A brooding Maharashi, a shipwreck, an innocent daughter and a treacherous brother: This engaging version of THE TEMPEST finds Prospero, a brilliant neuroscientist, robbed of his inheritance and exiled on a remote African island, intent on colonising the minds of natives and kin alike to effect his revenge. In the company's 30th anniversary year, Tara Arts brings its unique approach and adventurous style to Shakespeare's magical final play.

Really Interested? - The Longer View
In its 30th anniversary year Tara brings its unique approach and style to Shakespeare¹s most dramatic and atmospheric of plays THE TEMPEST. Directed by JATINDER VERMA and designed by CLAUDIA MAYER following a sell out three week from25 September at TARA STUDIO in South London it now comes to -

The Highlands and Islands Festival Inverness
19 ­ 21 October - Fri & Sat at 7.30, Sun at 2pm
Inverness, Scotland
Inverness High School, Montague Road
Box Office: 01463 234234
Book online: www.thebooth.co.uk

A HISTORY OF THE COMPANY
30 years ago, five young men ­ Jatinder Verma lawyers Sunil Saggar and Ovais Kadri, accountant Vijay Shaunak, scientist Praveen Bahl ­ launched Tara Arts with an adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore¹s anti-war play, Sacrifice. The production was born out of anger, fear and curiosity ­ a response to the racist murder of a young boy living in Southall, 17-year old Gurdip Singh Chaggar.

Chaggar¹s brutal and random death was a vicious message of how fragile their lives were in a Britain shaping itself to a new reality of multiple cultures jostling for public space against each other. Their curiosity was born of the same spirit that had guided Jatinder, as a newly-arrived 14-year old, to explore the entire length of the London Underground in a single day: Was London¹s underbelly a clue to its over-ground reality? In producing
Sacrifice at the BAC in August 1977, Tara pinned their colours to the creation of a dialogue between the under- and over-ground worlds of Britain.

How things have changed! 30 years later, no one can seriously claim that Asian, Black and other Ominority¹ Arts are ignored. The work of touring theatre companies like Yellow Earth, Talawa, Nitro, Tiata Fahodzi, Kali, Tamasha, Rifco as well as TARA, has established a multiplicity of cultures inextricably woven into the fabric of contemporary British theatre. A host of writers, directors and performers have emerged to grace every corner of British theatre, television, radio and film.

Tara's distinctive, OBinglish¹ style of theatre, has resulted in co-productions with the National Theatre of Tartuffe (1990), The Little Clay Cart (1991) and Cyrano (1995). The company has also staged an outstanding trilogy of plays - Journey to the West (2002), an epic of modern migration.

However, multiculturalism as an idea is now under attack, often by those who have not worked out what it meant. We are now being asked to by-pass multiculturalism for a notion of Britishness. It is a narrowing of the possibilities that the past three decades have suggested, despite events like the killing of young Gurdip Singh Chaggar or the bombings of 7th July.

The challenges ahead posed by multiculturalism remain immense: there are no dedicated theatre buildings pushing forth the ethics and aesthetics of multiculturalism. In all areas of the infrastructure of theatre ­ writers, performers, designers, administrators, publicists, critics - the representation of Asian, Black and other Ominority¹ practitioners remains either small or inconsistent, despite the enormous investments of the past
three decades.

Tara's season of work this year ­ from Nowhere to Belong to the Tempest, from Slavery to When the Lights Went Out, from work in the Studio to Trafalgar Square ­ seeks to extend cultural literacy by confronting clichéd notions of what an OAsian¹ theatre company such as Tara should be producing. Theatre is for all, or it is for none. No passports ­ that is Tara¹s clarion call for the future of multicultural theatre.

DIRECTORS VISION OF THE TEMPEST
On the island everyone is confined. Caliban and Ariel are enslaved and the ship¹s passengers are held there by magic. Prospero, trapped in bitter exile, controls his kingdom with knowledge of the dark arts, while Ariel, like the djinn trapped in Al-Addin¹s magic lamp, does his master¹s bidding but reminds him of his fallibility. Even his own daughter is manipulated by Prospero¹s sorcery. She has been hidden away on the island since she was three years old and will only be revealed to the man of her father¹s
choosing. A veiled Miranda emphasises the way in which Prospero has kept her covered up and hidden from the world.

The Tempest is a fable and it is in the re-telling of fables that we begin to understand our present times. Prospero is a person who turns his knowledge to darker ends because he is obsessed with vengeance. His prototype is Marlowe¹s Dr Faustus, but in our own age there are many like Faustus and Prospero - intelligent men and women who will create and support terrible ends to revenge perceived hurt. He calls to mind the figure of Ayman al-Zawahiri, Bin Laden¹s right-hand man, a learned doctor confined in some cave in the desolate border between north-west Pakistan and Afghanistan, plotting vengeance on the West to recover the purity of his homeland, Egypt.

But there is always the possibility of recantation and human empathy. I am reminded of another figure, another doctor who was once al-Zawahiri¹s close associate - Said Imam al-Sharif has spent his time in an Egyptian prison. Once a prominent Jihadist militant, he has recanted terror as a means to salvation. In Prospero¹s case it is the spirit world which offers a glimpse into what it means to be human. Ariel suggests her affections
would become tender:

Ariel : ...sir, were I human
Prospero:... And mine shall...The rarer action is in virtue than in vengance.

Perhaps the "magic" of The Tempest lies in its humane exploration of the most inhuman experiences. For me, it offers a profound comment and hope for today.

An act of terror, a treacherous brother, a tormented slave, an innocent daughter - Shakespeare¹s powerful last play is a miraculous story of confinement and freedom. Exiled on a ³desolate isle², Prospero manipulates loved ones, servants and enemies alike as he obsessively plots revenge to return home.

"Tara¹s work is a terrific synthesis of east and west" - Sir Richard Eyre
Over the years Tara has proved itself a uniquely seductive British theatre company. Its blend of East and West continues to inspire an alluring vision of modern Britain through the production, promotion and development of cross-cultural theatre.

"Tara have helped to make those of us with different origins visible to both ourselves and others" - Naseem Khan, OBE

Jatinder Verma and Claudia Mayer have developed a distinctive cross-cultural theatre style, drawing on Asian dramaturgical practices to re-invent European texts. This has resulted in Jatinder becoming the first director from among Britain¹s migrant communities to be invited to stage a play at the National Theatre. Tara has also staged an outstanding trilogy of plays ­ Journey to the West (2002) ­ an epic of modern migration, followed by
national tours of The Merchant of Venice (2004), An Enemy of the People (2005) and The Marriage of Figaro (2006).

Tara¹s season of work this year ­ from Nowhere to Belong to The Tempest, from Slavery to When the Lights Went Out, from work in the Studio to Trafalgar Square ­ exemplifies the diversity of output that has been the company¹s hallmark over the past 30 years.

"Theatre is for all, or it is for none ­ that is Tara¹s clarion call for the future of theatre." - Jatinder Verma (Artistic Director, Tara)

The Tempest is directed by Jatinder Verma, designed by Claudia Mayer, lighting designer Nick Holdsworth. Cast includes David Ononokpono (Caliban/Gonzalo), Caroline Kilpatrick (Ariel), Tom Kanji (Antonio/Stefano), Robert Mountford (Prospero/Trinculo), Chris Jack (Ferdinand/Sebastian) and Jessica Manley (Miranda/Alonzo)

Read more about the Tempest at Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tempest