Kevin Kennedy, the actor who is best known for playing Curly Watts in Coronation Street is to take over the lead in the West End production of We Will Rock You, the musical based on the music of Queen.
He has previously played roles in Chicago and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Kennedy will perform the part […]

On the 21st of April the Independent ran an article by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown about why south Asians (so Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, etc.) are so under represented in theatre within the UK.

As Ms. Alibhai-Brown rightly points out, it isn’t just because there are less south Asians within the UK and so proportionately less south Asian actors and performers. The genre is seems pretty destitute of south Asian talent. In a very unscientific study when I asked my immediate colleagues to name any south Asian theatrical actors or singers/dancers in the UK, the best they could come up with were the names of some Bollywood stars (who don’t really count) and a few cast members from Bombay Dreams.

So why might this be the case? Other than the possibility that my colleagues are somewhat ignorant…

According to Ms. Alibhai-Brown, this under-representation is down to pressure from within south-Asian families for their offspring to get ’sensible’ jobs and careers. I suppose there is a stereotype that backs up Ms. Alibhai-Brown idea.

I’ve lost track of how many of hard working south Asian corner-shop owners and medical practitioners I’ve met over the years, and indeed during my three sojourns in university (studying for two undergraduate degrees and then a Masters) it has been a truism that south Asians tended to be disproportionately represented within the sciences, both physical and social, and very much under-represented within the performing arts.

Ms. Alibhai-Brown takes the view that diaspora communities tend to pursue and promote financial security for the family and friends before more ‘frivolous’ careers in the arts. Although this view seems logical enough on the face of it, there are more than enough ‘indigenous’ south Asian in the UK now in families who are not scrimping and saving every penny to survive, so the Asian absence may be due more to attitudes than anything else.

As an example, although many Indian women are encouraged to learn how to dance in the traditional and beautiful Bharatanatyan fashion, which involves public performances as part of its ancient examination process, this is often considered to be just part of a woman’s education NOT a career choice. Once the girls become adept graduate through their Arangetram performance, it is not common for those girls to go on to become professional dancers.

There seems to be a stigma over becoming involved with the performing arts amongst many south Asian communities in the UK, which is both sad and odd bearing in mind how rich these cultures are in terms of the performing arts and how massively popular Bollywood movies are – movies that are essentially 3 hour long musicals with lots of dance routines.

Anyway, with the huge popularity of Bombay Dreams and the efforts of such south Asian dance luminaries as Akram Khan, this malaise, whether founded in the attitudes of British south Asian or within those in a position to employ them within the performing arts, is beginning to pass…