Groundbreaking theatre company Tamasha kicks off its 21st Birthday year with Propeller, an intensive artist training initiative culminating in a week of work-in-progress performances at the Gate Theatre. Involving over 30 practitioners at all stages of their careers, the project brings together writers, directors, designers and actors to develop and workshop four plays currently under commission to Tamasha.

During Propeller training in February, four directors, along with 13 actors, explored co-founder and Artistic Director Kristine Landon-Smith’s unique actor-centred model of practice whilst two designers worked with Sue Mayes on an initial exploration of ideas. In early March, they went on to collaborate with an ensemble of professional actors over a two-week rehearsal period to further develop and produce the four pieces in a professional context. As well as working directly with the writers, they continue to be supported by Kristine, Sue, along with co-founder and Artistic Director Sudha Bhuchar and dramaturgs Philip Osment and Lin Coghlan.

The four highly original plays that Propeller is developing are by writers who have come through the company’s biennial course Tamasha New Writing:

• Satinder Chohan’s first play Zameen was developed with Kali Theatre and staged at Soho Theatre. Inspired by verbatim research, Lotus Beauty is set in a London beauty salon as secrets, lies, murder and suicide are unearthed.

• Ishy Din is a taxi driver by night and is inspired by the stories he overhears in his cab. With a great sense of comedy, Snookered sees four friends come together in a snooker hall to remember a dead friend but as they excavate the past things threaten to explode.

• Em Hussain’s debut play Sweet Cider presented by Tamasha at the Arcola Theatre in 2008. Her Propeller play, Blood, is a tale of love, lust and betrayal set in the Pakistani community of northern England, based on Lorca’s tragedy Blood Wedding.

• Avaes Mohammad is an established playwright, poet and performer. He received the Amnesty International Media Award for his poem Bhopal and theatre works include In God We Trust and Shadow Companion. His play Zindabad charts the rise of a second generation immigrant in Lancashire’s tight Pakistani community, still burdened by the weight of their parents’ fate.

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