Join us for a night of new writing from South Asian voices, exploring the key themes of Tara Theatre’s future seasons.

NOVA is Tara Theatre’s seed commission for writers of South Asian heritage and connections. We are showcasing the fruits of this year’s seed commissions, as we expand the canon of South Asian voices and uncover stories of how contemporary narratives around current themes affect our communities. These original works offer an exciting glimpse into the future of South Asian theatre.

The NOVA Showcase is a rare opportunity to experience the diversity and richness of stories, and to witness the growth of new and exciting voices in British theatre. 

DIGITAL PROGRAMME

The showcase will features the following pieces:

 

Altab Ali Zindabad by Amin Ali

On May 4th 1978, in Whitechapel, 24 year old Bangladeshi textile worker Altab Ali was brutally murdered on his way home from work by three men. On that very same night the National Front received the highest number of votes in Tower Hamlets. Altab Ali’s murder sparked a revolution, dubbed the murder that mobilised the East End.

Inspired by true events. Altab Ali Zindabad is Amin Ali’s love letter to his grandparents, all the Bangladeshi revolutionaries that came before him whose shoulders he stands on today, and the East End. It’s his way of paying homage.

The play explores the historical context surrounding the racist murder of Altab Ali and how Altab’s murder sparked the revolution that radically changed East London forever. It’s an intersectional story where different communities came together during a time of widespread facism to fight off the National Front Nazis; a story eerily reminiscent of the major resurgence we’re seeing in Britain today.

 

Dead Internet by Ayan Philip

Dead Internet follows Sammy, a young music producer who cuts himself off from the outside world, isolating himself in his room to pour his heart and soul into his craft. When he finally makes a breakthrough and emerges from his seclusion, he discovers that the world he left behind has warped into something far more sinister.

Inspired by the conspiracy theory that much of the internet has been overtaken by bots and artificial intelligence, Dead Internet explores the increasingly blurred line between the real and the virtual. It also delves into the experiences that can push a young person into complete isolation. A tragicomedy with heart, the play blends dark humour with existential horror to examine loneliness, creativity, and the search for meaning in an increasingly unreal world.

 

The Punjabi Alien Play by Neetu Singh

A family are forced into government-issued lockdown as aliens have invaded East London but they have already welcomed an unexpected white visitor into their home. Mahi has to choose between protecting herself and her sister or the white visitor from the aliens.

The Punjabi Alien Play explores displacement and migration through dystopian comedy: it asks who are the aliens in our world and who must we protect ourselves from?

 

NOVA is generously supported by

Fenton Arts Trust