Abstract:

The development of the movement of British South Asian theatre offers a way to examine how diaspora communities create new forms of performance in response to their positioning. Adaptation has been a particular feature of this movement, and this talk will consider why and how forms of adaptation have been used, leading to new meanings of the plays, as well as new forms of performance with a hybridity of styles. An approach from diaspora studies will show how postcolonialism can be extended in the context of diaspora to allow for transnational connections and movements of performance forms, leading to the use of the term transadaptation to take into account translation (verbal and cultural), transmedia, and the transnational. Placing the histories of migration and diaspora in Britain alongside the developments in theatre show how cultural forms and innovations reflect the experience of communities who are themselves in a state of adaptation. The talk will examine a number of performances produced by theatre companies Tara Arts and Tamasha, as well as by playwright Tanika Gupta.