The second collection of plays by acclaimed British dramatist Tanika Gupta includes The Empress, Lions and Tigers and her adaptation of Great Expectations.
Refusing to be pigeonholed as an Asian playwright, Gupta has a fresh perspective on race relations, generational divide and sexual politics.Based on the true story of her great uncle and freedom fighter Dinesh Gupta, Lions and Tigers is Tanika Guptas most personal play yet. It charts Dinesh Guptas emotional and political awakening as this extraordinary 19 year old pits himself against the British Raj.The Empress uncovers remarkable unknown stories of 19th century Britain, the growth of Indian nationalism and the romantic proclivities of one of our most surprising monarchs. It is the Jubilee! Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, 1887. At Tilbury Docks, Rani and Abdul step ashore after the long voyage from India. One has to battle a society who deems her a second class citizen, the other forges an astonishing entanglement with the ageing Queen who finds herself enchanted by stories of an India she rules but has never seen.Great Expectations. Pip, a poor village boy, finds two chance meetings set his life on an unexpected course. At the waters edge, he has a terrifying encounter with an escaped convict. In the decaying grandeur of Miss Havershams house, he falls hopelessly in love with the heartless Estella. When an anonymous benefactor helps him move to Calcutta, the heart of the British Raj, Pip pursues his great expectations and his dream of winning Estellas heart. Relocating Pips extraordinary journey to nineteenth-century India, this coming-of-age story, evoking some of Dickens most colourful characters, is faithful to the period of the book and the richness of Dickens language a vivid theatrical retelling of a universally loved masterpiece.
