Tara Arts, led by founder and artistic director Jatinder Verma, are the celebrated pioneers of South Asian theatre in Britain. South Asian immigrants founded Tara Arts in 1977, as a response to the racist murder of Gurdeep Singh, during a riot in Southall in 1976. At the time, there were no British South Asian theatre groups, despite India’s ancient dramatic traditions. Verma said: “Our impetus [at the time] was to find a voice.”
Tara’s initial work was often naturalistic, concerned with raising the community awareness of racism and taking a critical stance toward racism in British society. Their emphasis on touring also developed early, and has made them one of the most travelled of all small British …
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