Tara Theatre boss: Theatre will fail if we censor work deemed risky

Kathi-Chandra told The Stage that the use of the word “risky” to describe political work, as well as work about South Asian and global majority communities, was frustrating.

“I’m going to now address the ‘r’ word, because I hate it. The concept of [South Asian and global majority] work being called ‘risky’ is really maddening to me,” she said.

She explained: “If theatre spaces censor and start to consider various topics ‘risky’, it defeats the purpose of why we do theatre. 

“The moment censorship starts to dominate and [leaders] start to feel scared to hold an artist who’s calling something out or feeling very strongly about something that’s affecting a specific group of people, the theatre sector will start to fail and we will start to fail in our jobs.”

Her comments follow last week’s independent review into the cancellation of Stef O’Driscoll’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Manchester’s Royal Exchange due to management concerns about references to transgender rights and Palestine in the production.

While admitting leadership failures, the review did not uphold accusations of censorship – a finding firmly rebuked by Equity as well as Stage Directors UK co-chairs Pooja Ghai and Matthew Dunster.

Questioned further about censorship in today’s sector, Kathi-Chandra said: “We really need to review and interrogate again what it means to be theatre spaces. Traditionally, these were the spaces where the rebels would be and would disrupt the status quo.”

She added: “We’ve had right-wing governments and there is so much conflict in the world that people don’t want to talk about – they don’t want to make it obvious who they’re siding with. I very strongly believe that the moment [artistic leaders] start to think there are topics that we can’t talk about or start to censor the work, we’re starting to fail.”

Rather than contentious subject matters, Kathi-Chandra said “the risk at the moment is how dire the funding situation looks”. 

“If I put my business hat on, I do very much understand why people are finding it very hard to take a chance on new writing,” she said, pointing to the cost of living outstripping salaries as well as the challenge of maintaining accessible ticket prices.

“If new writing is affected first, how is the canon going to expand? Every time I meet a new writer or hear a new idea, it fuels me and reminds me of how important my work is,” she added.  

A polemic on climate change by Tara Theatre’s Young Company, a practical guide on how to save the world when no one f***ing else is (the show’s title is styled in lower case) is to kick off Kathi-Chandra’s inaugural season on April 15, running until April 19.

Permission, directed by Neetu Singh, is to follow from May 30 to June 7, before I Dream of Theresa May from November 17 to 29, which Kathi-Chandra herself will direct. 

Finally, Karim Khan’s Sweetmeats, co-produced with the Bush Theatre, will run at the venue in 2026, a staging of an “unlikely and forbidden love” between two South Asian elders who meet at a type 2 diabetes workshop.