Pioneering national touring theatre company Tamasha, co-founded by Sudha Bhuchar and Kristine Landon-Smith, celebrated its 25th anniversary in style with a glamorous gala event at London’s May Fair Hotel on Friday 25th September 2015.
Hosted by the Trustees including Ramesh Vala OBE, Nishma Gosrani and Anuj Chande, guests were welcomed by outgoing Tamasha Artistic Director Sudha Bhuchar and incoming Artistic Director Fin Kennedy.
The evening consisted of a retrospective of Tamasha’s ‘greatest hits’ including extracts from Untouchable (1989), Women of the Dust (1993), East is East (1996), A Fine Balance (2006), and Snookered (2013). It was performed by an ensemble cast of established and emerging British Asian actors and showcased some of Tamasha's defining moments. A specially commissioned short film contained testimony from Tamasha ‘alumni’ including Jimi Mistry, Raza Jaffrey, Sunetra Sarkar, Parminder Nagra, Ruth Jones, Chris Bisson, Shaheen Khan, Archie Panjabi and Nina Wadia. Further entertainment was provided by award-winning clarinettist Arun Ghosh and songwriter and sitar player Shama Rahman.
Sudha Bhuchar said: “Tamasha was born because in the late 1980s Kristine [Landon Smith] and I found representations of ourselves and our communities noticeably lacking on Britain’s professional stages. In the past quarter century, Tamasha has been a critical stepping stone into the theatrical mainstream for new British Asian talent. There is much work left to do around diversity and the arts but we are here tonight to celebrate what has been achieved. The roll call of talent we have launched speaks for itself – Tamasha changes lives.”
