Background and purposes
Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain was a Muslim feminist writer and educationalist from Bengal. Her work has inspired generations of Asian women to take control of their lives, to study and to be involved with social action. She was brought to the attention of Rose Bruford College by Mahila Sangha (Bengali, “Women’s group”) under the leadership of Mrs Shaheen Westcombe MBE; we were invited to be a third partner, with Tara Arts, in developing an educational project based upon a visionary text entitled “Sultana’s Dream”, which the group were hoping would be dramatised. The purpose of the project was to raise awareness of Rokeya as a potential role mode, particularly to young Asian women.
I decided it would be worthwhile to pursue the project: we already had had lectures from Jatinder Verma from Tara, as part of the research project on inter-cultural performance. Linking with a minority ethnic community group fitted in with the outreach mission of the College. And promoting new writing that explored the issue of multiple heritages seemed to be a positive move. My role therefore was to act as a catalyst and enabler, promoting action and creativity in others. I was interested to explore the use of creative management in empowering students; and to serve the local community by curating the development of a project that also empowered their voice.
Breaking the project down into phases, the process seems to have been:
Getting participant buy-in;
Identifying resources
Script development
Promoting the project to outside interest groups
Rehearsal and performance
Evaluation and development
These phases are of course not always sequential.
Participants
We were lucky to have a number of students from an Asian background, who were quiet committed to project development. Firstly Shubhra Rao, who had already organised an extensive project in Bangalore; also Shabeena Butt, trained as a costumier but interested in craft traditions. We arranged a presentation from Mrs Westcombe at the College symposium (April 2008), which brought onboard Rae Leaver and Claudia Haley, studying directing. Rae in particular had a strong interest in writing, while Claudia’s interest was visual. At this point it was not yet clear what from the project might take, though our brief from the women’s group (who became known as The Aunties) tended towards a spoken drama form. These four became the core development team, working alongside Mukul Ahmed from Tara, who had already been contacted by Mrs Westcombe. Mukul later brought in actors, choreography, and stage management, while the core students brought in technical support, and later, information and communication. The student group was quite fluid in its formation: Shubhra returned to the Far East after a while, and passed on project management to Lee Jones, who acted as production manager and lighting designer.
Resources
For funding, Mrs Westcombe got a commitment of £5000 from a community trust. Shubhra made a pitch to the Knowledge Transfer fund, and won £750; I had already allocated £1000 from outreach funds to the project, with a contingency of £500 to cover incidental costs. Taken together this allowed for a small, fringe-style production. The College was prepared to offer rehearsal space and a venue, and other support where possible. Tara had rehearsal space and a venue, plus access to an Asian artists network. Mahila Sangha wanted to be involved, not as performers but as script advisers, and in a craft capacity.
Script development
On reading the text, Mukul had already identified that it lacked dramatic tension, and needed a treatment. Rae worked on a script over the summer – the intention was to get it to a stage where it could be shared as part of Black History Month in October. In our discussion we agreed that the key issue the project faced, as an educational project, was to explore the situation of young Asian women, exposed to the traditions of homeland and the pressures of modern Western experience through school and friendship groups. This tension provides a dramatic direction, and interrogates a similar issue to Rokeya, in imagining a new future. Rokeya had been involved is social research into the role of women in purdah; the choice of some young women to wear the veil was discussed as part of the dilemma facing young Muslims regarding their cultural identity.
The October reading took place, which I audio-recorded to share with the Director and writer who couldn’t be present. The Aunties arranged for some of the younger members of the community to be there; and it was noticeable that the range of comments varied between the generations. The elder members commented on pronunciation, and on the ‘authenticity’ of Rokeya’s voice in the piece, while the younger generation were looking for music and dance to meet their own ‘Bollywood’ experience. Further work went on with the director in shaping the piece dramatically; there was some tension in the design of the piece between these multiple conflicting visions.
Promoting the project
Much of the project promotion fell to the Aunties, partly I think through the loss of Shubhra, but also because of their extensive contact list. It was important for the aims of the project to disseminate among the Bengali community: the project therefore needed to be played at Tara (for the Asian drama community); at Rose Bruford, for the SE London Asian community, and for funders; and in Tower Hamlets to reach the main centre of Bengalis. Brady Arts was booked for the last.
Rather too late, I realised there should be a web presence, and an education pack. We bought www.rokeya.org.uk; Alia Wilson who had originally joined to help out with the October reading developed the information.
We tried to get other stakeholders interested, such as Half Moon TYP; but the development cycle was such that time wasn’t on our side. The phasing of projects from this perspective is quite critical – at what point is there enough material to interest other parties?
Rehearsal and performance
The production was rehearsed in February 2009 and opened on 5th March, playing seven performances. Some tension came from the part-time availability of students, which didn’t match that of the company. In addition to the usual creative tensions, there were also issues regarding the availability of material for video purposes: actors’ agents were unclear as to the purpose of video documentation of the project, and unhappy for promotional material to be placed on the net. There was a lack of clarity with regard to rights and intellectual knowledge on a collaborative, developmental project of this nature. It feels there should be a new form of contract developed which would recognise the interest of collaborating artists on a project-in-development.
Evaluation and development
I became aware that many projects that were funded by Arts Council England are now subject to external assessment. Accordingly I invited Prof. Michael Earley, the Principal of the College, not only to come to the performance but also to contribute his dramaturgical expertise to post-production discussion. There was an extensive set of discussions, at each venue, and as part of the 2009 symposium at the College. Fittingly, this event was twelve months after the idea was broached to the student body.
Comments, from participants, audience, and others were generally favourable, though some people felt the text needed further clarification. It was generally felt that the project was important, and that there was more to be got out of it. For me, it feels as if the production was a ‘proof of concept’. There is potential for radio drama; and already there has been interest from Kolkata and from Bangladesh in taking a tour over. As a centrepiece, the show might well act well to focus on creative and cultural development in the subcontinent, as well as exploring issues of identity within the British Asian community generally.