12 Tribe Arts, Tribe Talks
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Josh Doble
Abstract
Tribe Arts is a philosophically inspired, radical-political theatre company based in Leeds. Founded by Tajpal Rathore and Samran Rathore, it aims to amplify the stories and voices of second- and third-generation black and Asian people in Britain, interrogating themes and issues such as race, belonging and identity. Tribe Arts’s previous shows have included Darokhand, a reimagining of six Shakespeare plays, amalgamated into an original story set in a striking Gothic-Mughal world – stylistically a gothic landscape evoking Mughal India; and Tribe Talks, a radical format of participatory theatre in which a panel of speakers motivate the audience to discuss important topics around the history of black and Asian people. In 2020, Tribe Arts launched Off/Stage, the only e-zine currently dedicated to black and Asian theatre and culture in the UK. This interview sees editors Josh, Liam and Emma reconvene with Thaj and Sam, both of whom presented on decolonial theatre practice at the original 2018 ‘After Empire?’ conference. In this conversation, held during the autumn of 2020, Thaj and Sam reflect on their origins as an organisation, exploring why decolonial theatre is necessary in modern Britain and how their work confronts the legacies of empire across British society.
Abstract
Tribe Arts is a philosophically inspired, radical-political theatre company based in Leeds. Founded by Tajpal Rathore and Samran Rathore, it aims to amplify the stories and voices of second- and third-generation black and Asian people in Britain, interrogating themes and issues such as race, belonging and identity. Tribe Arts’s previous shows have included Darokhand, a reimagining of six Shakespeare plays, amalgamated into an original story set in a striking Gothic-Mughal world – stylistically a gothic landscape evoking Mughal India; and Tribe Talks, a radical format of participatory theatre in which a panel of speakers motivate the audience to discuss important topics around the history of black and Asian people. In 2020, Tribe Arts launched Off/Stage, the only e-zine currently dedicated to black and Asian theatre and culture in the UK. This interview sees editors Josh, Liam and Emma reconvene with Thaj and Sam, both of whom presented on decolonial theatre practice at the original 2018 ‘After Empire?’ conference. In this conversation, held during the autumn of 2020, Thaj and Sam reflect on their origins as an organisation, exploring why decolonial theatre is necessary in modern Britain and how their work confronts the legacies of empire across British society.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures vii
- Contributors viii
- Foreword xi
- Acknowledgements xvii
- Introduction 1
- I Institutions of empire 27
- 1 ‘Bloomsbury bazaar’ 29
- 2 Anthropology at the end of empire 46
- 3 ‘He is not a “racist” but should not be appointed director of LSE’ 65
- II Writing identity, conflict and class 85
- 4 Beyond experience 87
- 5 Empire, war and class in Graham Swift’s Last Orders (1996) 106
- III Racial others, national memory 125
- 6 White against empire 127
- 7 Racism, redistribution, redress 147
- 8 Exemplar empires 166
- IV At home in postcolonial Britain 187
- 9 Empire, security and citizenship in Arab British fiction 189
- 10 Black, beautiful and essentially British 207
- 11 Convivial cultures and the commodification of otherness in London nightlife in the 1970s and 1980s 230
- 12 Tribe Arts, Tribe Talks 248
- Afterword 259
- Index 267
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures vii
- Contributors viii
- Foreword xi
- Acknowledgements xvii
- Introduction 1
- I Institutions of empire 27
- 1 ‘Bloomsbury bazaar’ 29
- 2 Anthropology at the end of empire 46
- 3 ‘He is not a “racist” but should not be appointed director of LSE’ 65
- II Writing identity, conflict and class 85
- 4 Beyond experience 87
- 5 Empire, war and class in Graham Swift’s Last Orders (1996) 106
- III Racial others, national memory 125
- 6 White against empire 127
- 7 Racism, redistribution, redress 147
- 8 Exemplar empires 166
- IV At home in postcolonial Britain 187
- 9 Empire, security and citizenship in Arab British fiction 189
- 10 Black, beautiful and essentially British 207
- 11 Convivial cultures and the commodification of otherness in London nightlife in the 1970s and 1980s 230
- 12 Tribe Arts, Tribe Talks 248
- Afterword 259
- Index 267
