A Thin Red Line
by Sonali Bhattacharyya
Directed by Janet Steel
A Community Project with Black Country Touring and Birmingham Rep
Toured Autumn 2007
Does partition exist in Britain now? If so, have others partitioned us or do we divide ourselves?
A young couple return home to confront the fault lines of prejudice and cultural division that had driven them to find sanctuary just a few miles down the road in Birmingham. Reflecting a real slice of life in the Black Country, A Thin Red Line explores today’s social and cultural partitions, both hidden and visible, in the way we see other people’s loyalties, religion and sense of home.
This thought-provoking new commission from Midlands born writer Sonali Bhattacharyya (South Bank Award nominee for White Open Spaces), was inspired and provoked by a series of workshops with a diverse range of Black Country community groups, using the 60th anniversary of the partition of India as its starting point.
In autumn 2007 it toured to:
Thu 8 Nov 7.30pm Community Action Project 0121 565 327 Windmill Lane Smethwick B66 3LX
Sat 10 Nov 4pm Smethwick Library 0121 558 0497 High Street Smethwick B66 1AA
Mon 19 Nov 7.45pm & Tues 20 Nov 2pm
Birmingham Rep – The Door 0121 236 4455 Broad Street Birmingham B1 2EP
Wed 21 Nov 7.30pm Gujarati Hindu Social and Cultural Centre 01922 474 447
69 Ford Street Walsall WS2 9BW
Fri 23 Nov 7.15pm Soho Theatre Studio 0870 429 6883
21 Dean Street London W1D 3NE
Sat 24 Nov 7 .45pm Watermans 020 8232 1020
40 High Street Brentford Middlesex TW8 0DS
Tue 27 Nov 1.30pm Arena Theatre 01902 321 321
Wulfruna Street Wolverhampton WV1 1SE
Background
2007 was the 60th anniversary of the British Partition of the Indian sub-continent. As part of the reflections on those events, Kali Theatre Company, Birmingham Rep Theatre and Black Country Touring commissioned Sonali Bhattacharyya to work with six community groups in the Black Country to develop a new script for performance.
The process and the script examined partition with a particular focus on what it means and what its effect is on communities in Britain today; both the continuing affect that Partition has on the communities of the Indian sub-continent in Britain today, and to explore what new ‘partition’ is being created today as a result of current events.
Do we have a de facto partition in certain British cities as a result of the policies in the sub continent 60 years ago? Or do we have a new partition based on how we perceive other’s loyalties, religion and sense of home?
The Process
The three organisations jointly commissioned Sonali Bhattacharyya to engage with us in a writing process that explored these issues directly with communities in the Black Country. The process engaged with both South Asian groups and the wider community.
Sonali took an active part in a series of workshops with these identified groups led by Steve Johnstone, Co-Artistic Director at Black Country Touring, with the Artistic Director of Kali, Janet Steel.
As a further stimulus to the writing, after a first round of workshops, some initial elements of the script will be fed back to the workshop groups for their feedback on the direction the work is taking.
The writer them worked on the text, in discussion with Steve Johnstone and Janet Steel. Caroline Jester, Literary Manager at Birmingham REP was dramaturge for this process.