Kali Theatre presents 'Tagore's Women', two new plays revealing personal lives amidst global political struggles. Each play is inspired the female characters in the works of Rabindranath Tagore, the celebrated Bengali poet, playwright and early anti-British rule activist. Tagore's Women is a double bill of: Purnjanam/Born Again by Sharmila Chauhan, directed by Kali Theatre's Artistic Director Janet Steel and Endless Light by Sayan Kent, directed by Elizabeth Freestone. They will be presented in the atmospheric Vault venue at Southwark Playhouse, 17-21 January 2012.

Both plays feature the same cast: Rebecca Grant (Holby City) Manjeet Mann (DCI Banks, EastEnders), Robert Mountford (RSC), Goldy Notay (Sex and The City 2, It's a Wonderful Afterlife), Dharmesh Patel (RSC), Gary Pillai (RSC).

Purnjanam/Born Again weaves three stories in which three liars, two lovers and a reluctant leader all desperately search for truth. Using a burning Mumbai as a microcosm in which to examine global politics, Purnjanam questions destiny, love and power to ask what has to be destroyed for something new to be created.

The three stories of Purnajanam each have a different theme: The Lovers examines the consequences of the deification of women, The Liars finds three Mumbai-ites faced with death, while The Leaders questions the responsibilities of activism.

In Endless Light an activist protesting against an opencast coal mine on top of a sacred mountain and the mine's owner discover they share a secret they can no longer avoid. Set against the backdrop of environmental havoc, Endless Light explores how individuals try to live in a harmonious place in themselves while also struggling to find a place in the world.

Both plays were developed from a series of workshops by Kali exploring the works of Tagore. Janet Steel, Artistic Director of Kali Theatre: “Tagore was writing strong female characters at a time when the emancipation of women in India was almost non-existent. We wanted to explore what some of those characters might do in a modern India. These writers have used this as a starting point for a their own wonderfully creative response to Tagore’s writing.”

About Kali Theatre

Founded in 1990 by Rita Wolf and Rukhsana Ahmad, Kali is the UK’s only theatre company dedicated to championing women writers from a South Asian background. Of all the new plays by British Asian woman playwrights presented since 1988 in the UK, nearly a third have been presented by Kali and of the plays by new writers, over three-quarters were presented by Kali. Janet Steel has been Artistic Director since 2002.

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