THE glitz and glamour of American dance competitions will hit the Birmingham Rep theatre next month in the form of Bhangra Nation – A New Musical.
Director Stafford Arima told Eastern Eye that bhangra groups are “not just in a couple of states, but spread across America”.
“The writers felt that given the widespread American interest in bhangra competitions across the United States, it was a perfect opportunity to incorporate this form. In many ways, bhangra has also liberated the cultural setting of the world of universities,” said Arima.
“Many of the best choreographers utilise elements of bhangra in certain hip hop moves, for example. But what makes this musical so original is the use of bhangra dancing and the use of south Asian traditional music in combination with musical theatre. There is a new sound, a new voice, and I don’t believe there’s ever been something like this before.”
Bhangra dance and music initially spread to the West through first-generation south Asian immigrants. Its popularity grew in the US with the emergence of Bhangra Remix, where young second-generation south Asians blended Punjabi musical elements into their music and danced to bhangra rhythms in club basements.
It has now become a fully-fledged college staple with the University of Maryland, the University of California at Berkley and the University of Michigan taking part in national competitions such as Bhangra Blowout, which recently took place at George Washington University.
Bhangra Nation – A New Musical looks at the journey of friends Mary and Preeti, who are students at a university in Michigan.
When The Tigers, their bhangra team, qualifies for the USA nationals, it becomes a dividing force rather than a celebratory moment, causing a rift among friends due to differing perceptions of what the dance form represents.”
Mary believes it’s crucial for bhangra, particularly this American collegiate variation, to incorporate modern elements like hip hop. On the other hand, Preeti insists on preserving its traditional essence without incorporating any western dance elements.
This conflict leads the girls to go their separate ways and form their own groups, ultimately competing against each other.
Arima said the girls’ idea of what bhangra should be is a reflection of their own contemplations on culture and identity.
“Mary is half-south Asian and half-Irish. Preeti is full Punjabi and feels that it’s important to stay true to her culture, while Mary, who is Caucasian and south Asian, feels divided by what this means for her. Is she allowed to have elements of her Caucasian culture in her south Asian world? Or is it one or the other?” said Arima.
“What’s invigorating about the material is that while it’s a very traditional musical in the sense that there are vibrant characters, an intoxicating score, singing and dancing, and an interesting story, there seems to be a new language that is being shared.
Stafford Arima
“I don’t mean language in the sense of cultural language, I’m talking about an artistic language. This artistic language is really bridging these two worlds of traditional musical theatre with a south Asian cultural artistic ingredient.”
He added: “You have this very universal story about identity and about figuring out who you are and how you are connected with culture, and specifically your culture, but it’s all intertwined in this electrifying musical that takes us on a brilliant journey of awakening.”
Arima is an award-winning director who became the first Canadian Asian to direct a musical on Broadway when his production Allegiance, starring Star Trek icon George Takei and Tony award winner Lea Salonga, premiered at the Longacre Theatre in 2015.
He has directed shows around the world such as Carrie and Altar Boyz in the US, Ragtime in the West End and The Secret Garden in Japan.
The 53-year-old said what attracted him to Bhangra Nation – A New Musical, was that as a son of a Chinese mother and a Japanese father, he could relate to the themes of the play.
“It’s fascinating because the reason why this piece is universal is that it doesn’t really matter if you are American, or if you’re south Asian - we all are battling internally about our identity,” he said.
“I was born in Canada, but my professional life has been in the United States. I live with this kind of confusion, am I Chinese, Japanese, Canadian or American? “Identity is such a rich conversation that is happening today, because young people are even more open to discussing their roots, their culture and their identity. A lot of our parents never spoke of this because they were immigrants, but more conversations are now happening.
“This story deals with these complexities, but doesn’t give answers, because I don’t think there is any one answer. But it does illuminate how we can as a society, and as individuals, find harmony within much larger ways of thinking rather than confine it to traditional or modern.”
There was an earlier incarnation of the production, titled Bhangin’ It: A Bangin’ New Musical, which had been performed successfully at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California.
Arima said several theatres around the world wanted the show, but what led to it arriving at the Birmingham Rep was their successful staging of another US-related production.
Though it’s an American story, Bhangra Nation – A New Musical, has an all-British cast. “The UK has got some extraordinary talent,” he said .
“We felt it would just be more beneficial for us to start with a group of fresh new performers, who are all from either London or Birmingham, and who are all excited about taking on an American character and learning something about the American way of life through university settings, but also telling a story that is universal.”
Bhangra Nation – A New Musical will be staged at the Birmingham Rep from Saturday, February 17 until Saturday,march 16.
The actor’s evolving style from youth to maturity getty images
Aamir Khan embracing vintage looks with classic charmgetty images
Bold and dramatic changes defining Aamir Khan’s careergetty images
From rugged to refined Aamir Khan’s versatile appearancesgetty images
Memorable film moments showcasing Aamir Khan’s unique stylegetty images
Aamir Khan’s blend of classic and contemporary fashiongetty images
Aamir Khan’s dedication to authentic character portrayals getty images
Cinematic milestones reflected in Aamir Khan’s on-screen imagegetty images
A seated Jain enlightened teacherAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Ganesha from JavaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Chinese silk painting depicting the BuddhaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
ArdhanarishvaraAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Head of a grimacing yakshaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
NagaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Bimaran casketAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Hunia Chawla
A still from rehearsal
Them performing liveNajmuddin Saifuddin Qawwal Group
The cast of Marriage Material in key moments from the play, including Avita Jay, Kiran Landa, Omar Malik, Irfan Shamji and Anoushka Deshmukh
Sathnam Sanghera’s 'Marriage Material' adapted into bold new play on conformity
The play Marriage Material at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre is Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s adaptation of Sathnam Sanghera’s novel of the same name, which first came out in 2013.
She is lucky to have Iqbal Khan direct Marriage Material. The play, a co-production with the Birmingham Rep, is set in the late 1960s. Mr and Mrs Bains (played by Jaz Singh Deol and Avita Jay) run a corner shop in Wolverhampton. Their younger daughter, Surinder (Anoushka Deshmukh), is 16, her sister Kamaljit (Kiran Landa) is just a bit older.
They have a neighbour, Patwant Dhanda (Irfan Shamji), who, as we shall soon see, is not a very pleasant man. In fact, he comes across just as racist as Enoch Powell, who represented Wolverhampton South West for the Tories from 1950 to 1974.
It will be recalled this was a time when Sikhs working on the buses were told they couldn’t wear a turban. That was a hard-fought battle that had to be won.
The Bains, meanwhile, simply want to get their girls married off.
Nothing new here, I thought.
What makes the tale different is that the plot twists and turns down the generations. Mr Dhanda, who has the makings of a paedophile, makes a pitch for one of the girls when Mr Bains dies early in the play. “A life with no man in the house is no life,” he informs the newly widowed Mrs Bains.
Mr Dhanda has a wife but she has returned to India so he considers himself to be a free man.
Surinder’s English teacher from school, Miss Flanagan (Celeste Dodwell), who is also head of the fifth form, tells Mrs Bains about her daughter: “I don’t want to embarrass you, but she is bright. Ridiculously bright.”
She adds: “Mrs Bains, I think it would be a pity if Surinder didn’t stay on at school.” The initial response from Mrs Bains is not encouraging: “Too much education makes people’s brains get mixed up, they don’t sleep at night…”
But she is finally persuaded that Surinder should be allowed to stay on for a while longer before being married off.
Mr Bains was very old school. When Surinder confides she would one day like to be “a somebody”, he is amused that “my daughter wants to be a somebody”.
“Like you,” she tells her father.
Mr Bains consoles his daughter: “We will find a somebody for you to marry.”
At the point of a possible marriage, however, Surinder is sweet-talked by chocolate salesman Jim Wilson (Tommy Belshaw) into running away with him. They share a love of literature, and he calls her “Sue Bains”. But the relationship does not end well.
Once she has left, Surinder is written off as “dead” by her family. The story that is circulated is that she was only 16 when she was killed in a car crash. That’s better than to let on that she ran off with a white man.
By the time she is reconciled with her sister towards the end of the play, a great deal has changed. Kamaljit married Tanvir Banga (Omar Malik), a young man who helped out in the Bains’ corner shop. When the two sisters meet again, Tanvir has also died. But he and Kamaljit had a son, Arjan Banga (Jaz Singh Deol doubles up for this role after the death of Mr Bains). He has come home after his father’s death to help his mother who is still running the family corner shop.
Meanwhile, Mr Dhanda’s business has prospered. He now has a son, Ranjit Dhanda (the role is taken by Omar Malik after Tanvir’s death), and he is nearly as unpleasant as his father.
Arjan has an English fiancée, Claire (Celeste Dodwell). In London, Arjan worked as a creative director. But after deciding to stay in Wolverhampton to help his mother, he decides he cannot marry Claire because she is white. In other words, Asians are not free of racism, either. Happily, at the end, the couple are reconciled.
As for Surinder, she parted company with Jim Wilson after realising he was all talk, depended on her for money and had failed to earn a penny from his literary pretensions. She had prospered, though, as a hotel owner and had been transformed in time into a well-groomed businesswoman. After being tracked down by Arjan, she decides to return to her roots in Wolverhampton and help Kamaljit run the family corner shop. Perhaps 50 years had passed during the passage of the play.
Being subjected to racism turned some Asians into racists themselves. The word goreh (white person) is repeatedly spat out with venom. Maybe it is worth remembering the play’s audience isn’t exclusively Asian – white folk are watching as well. And maybe some of the toilet humour ridiculing white people, which always makes me cringe, could be cut out.
In Sanghera’s novel, there is a quote from Enoch Powell’s speech in November 1968: “The West Indian or Asian does not, by being born in England, become an Englishman. In law he becomes a United Kingdom citizen by birth; in fact, he is a west Indian or an Asian still... he will by the very nature of things have lost one country without gaining another, lost one nationality without acquiring a new one. Time is running out against us and them. With the lapse of a generation or so we shall at last have succeeded – to the benefit of nobody – in reproducing ‘in England’s green and pleasant land’ the haunting tragedy of the US.”
In Marriage Material, where the acting is marvellous (apart from Mr Dhanda’s Indian mannerisms and accent being overdone) we do travel across a couple of generations.
There is a scene when Tanvir rejects Mr Dhanda’s vision of creating a little Punjab in Wolverhampton.
Mr Dhanda wants to take over the Bains’ corner shop and is putting pressure on Tanvir to sign the papers. He says: “In this country, money is the path to freedom.”
“Sign, please,” he instructs Tanvir. “We must make sure our children learn to behave nicely, according to our rules.”
He insists: “We maintain our identity so we can be ourselves.”
Tanvir disagrees: “We can be us here. With the goreh.”
Dhanda warns him: “Then we will be inviting chaos.”
Tanvir’s comment is telling: “You sound like Enoch.”
Kamaljit, who is expecting a baby with her husband Tanvir, says: “I would like my child to grow up knowing the history of the Gurus and to read the Granth Sahib. And to love their culture.”
Tanvir tells his wife: “I would like my child to go to the finest schools, to cheer for England in the World Cup and eat Yorkshire pudding on a Sunday.”
Kamaljit sets out a dream that has perhaps come to pass with many third and fourth generation British Asians: “Maybe our child can do both.” Much, much later, in a throwback to the past, we learn of Surinder’s O-level results: “Biology A, Chemistry A, English Language A, English Literature A, French A, History B, Latin A, Mathematics A, Physics A…”
Kamaljit tells her younger sister: “Never mind about the B.”
And that is quintessentially Asian. Their acting is outstanding.
Marriage Material is at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre until June 21, and at the Birmingham Rep from June 25-July 5