Peshkar Productions
Encyclopedia
Peshkar Productions is an intercultural theatre
and multimedia art company based in the Northwest of England. It engages in participatory projects and professional productions.
Metropolitan Borough Council’s (OMBC) Arts Development programme. The workshops were based on Asian music, dance and drama, involving members of the local Asian community with little experience in the performing arts. The success of the workshops and the enthusiasm of the participants led to the formation of Peshkar as a company with a role to promote the arts within the local Asian community by providing a forum for cultural expression.
Between 1991 and 1998 the company operated as a project within the OMBC Arts and Events Unit, gaining funding from North West Arts Board and other local funding sources to run a series of participatory workshop programmes and theatre productions employing a professional creative team to work with Peshkar’s growing company of participants from the local community.
In 2001 Peshkar secured support from the European Regional Development Fund
, which allowed it to constitute the organisation as a Company Limited by Guarantee and a Registered Charity, and develop a business plan that would build on the company’s growing reputation as a regionally significant Asian Arts organisation. It secured Revenue Funding from North West Arts Board and the first full time Company Director was appointed in November 2000. In 2005, Jim Johnson (theatre-maker/musician) took over as CEO of Peshkar.
Peshkar's Arts Council profile: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/rfo/peshkar-productions/
Intercultural theatre
Intercultural theater also known as Cross-cultural theatre may transcend time, while mixing and matching cultures or subcultures.-Imitational Theatre:...
and multimedia art company based in the Northwest of England. It engages in participatory projects and professional productions.
History
Peshkar was initiated in 1991, through a series of Asian Arts workshops by OldhamOldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amid the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, south-southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of the city of Manchester...
Metropolitan Borough Council’s (OMBC) Arts Development programme. The workshops were based on Asian music, dance and drama, involving members of the local Asian community with little experience in the performing arts. The success of the workshops and the enthusiasm of the participants led to the formation of Peshkar as a company with a role to promote the arts within the local Asian community by providing a forum for cultural expression.
Between 1991 and 1998 the company operated as a project within the OMBC Arts and Events Unit, gaining funding from North West Arts Board and other local funding sources to run a series of participatory workshop programmes and theatre productions employing a professional creative team to work with Peshkar’s growing company of participants from the local community.
In 2001 Peshkar secured support from the European Regional Development Fund
European Regional Development Fund
The European Regional Development Fund is a fund allocated by the European Union.-History:During the 1960s, the European Commission occasionally tried to establish a regional fund. Only Italy ever supported this, however, and nothing came of it. Britain made it an issue for their accession in...
, which allowed it to constitute the organisation as a Company Limited by Guarantee and a Registered Charity, and develop a business plan that would build on the company’s growing reputation as a regionally significant Asian Arts organisation. It secured Revenue Funding from North West Arts Board and the first full time Company Director was appointed in November 2000. In 2005, Jim Johnson (theatre-maker/musician) took over as CEO of Peshkar.
Productions
- Robot 420 (1992) written & directed by Basir Kazmi
- New Horizons (1993) by Basir Kazmi, directed by Ajay Kumar.
- Chappatti and Chips (1994) by Maggie Willett, directed by Harmage Singh Kalirai. http://www.asht.info/files/Harmage_Singh_Kalirai_Bio.pdf
- Masala Girls
- Jaago Get Real by Parv Bancil, directed by Harmage Singh Kalirai, choreographed by Shobna GulatiShobna GulatiShobna Gulati is an English actress, writer, and dancer of Indian origin, best known for playing Anita in Victoria Wood's Dinnerladies, and Sunita Alahan in the long-running soap opera Coronation Street from 2001 to 2006, a role to which she returned at the end of 2009...
. http://www.asht.info/files/Harmage_Singh_Kalirai_Bio.pdf - The Boat Years
- The Beautiful ViolinThe Beautiful ViolinThe Beautiful Violin is a play by Adam Strickson . Written in the Jatra style, it takes place during the 19th century in rural Bangladesh and tells the story of a tragic romance. It was co-commissioned by Peshkar Productions and the Oldham Coliseum Theatre. It was nominated for the Best New Play...
(2002) by Adam Strickson. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/paci/staff/staff_astrickson.html - The Beautifully Loose Asia Show (2002) http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3599402.cms
- Just Before the RainJust Before the RainJust Before the Rain was a play created in the aftermath of the 2001 Oldham race riots. Commissioned by Peshkar Productions, it was a devised piece involving local performers directed by Iain Bloomfield...
(2003) directed by Iain Bloomfield. http://www.brad.ac.uk/theatre/find-out-about-us/whos-who/Iain_Bloomfield/ http://menmedia.co.uk/asiannews/news/s/480439_turned_upside_down - Masala Girls: The WeddingMasala Girls: The WeddingMasala Girls: The Wedding is a play written and directed by Perveen Hussain and Sri Sarker. It was commissioned by a Peshkar Productions as a sequel to their original Masala Girls productions; a comedy exploring issues around British Asian marriages....
(2004) written and directed by Perveen Hussain and Sri Sarker. http://menmedia.co.uk/asiannews/entertainment/s/491267_peshkars_talent_hunt - In God We Trust (play)In God We Trust (play)In God We Trust is a play written by Avaes Mohammad. It is set in Guantanamo Bay detention camp and uses this environment to explore ideas of American imperialism as well as philosophical divisions within Islam through its central characters, Sarfraz and Hamza.-Original tour:The piece was toured by...
(2005) by Avaes Mohammad. http://www.arts-archive.co.uk/index.php?pg=12&action=performance&pid=L0424445403&arch=Y - Dance Without MovementDance Without MovementDance Without Movement is a play by Sophia Rashid. Commissioned by Peshkar Productions, it is a one-woman piece focussed on Zuleikha, a British Asian woman of Pakistani descent who is in the midst of a personal breakdown...
(2007) by Sophia Rashid (revived for the Edinburgh FringeEdinburgh FringeThe Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world’s largest arts festival. Established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place annually in Scotland's capital, in the month of August...
in 2008). http://www.citylife.co.uk/theatre_dance/news/10984_sophia_on_the_fringe_of_success - Hiphoperatic(2007) by Tajinder Singh HayerTajinder Singh HayerTajinder Singh Hayer is a dramatist born in Bradford, West Yorkshire in 1980.He has written for BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Peshkar Productions and Menagerie Theatre Company...
(revived in 2008). - Passengers (2008) by Tajinder Singh Hayer
- Towards Tomorrow (2008) by Conor Ibrahiem, Randeep Kaur Assi, Sophia Ali and Tajinder Singh Hayer
- Siege (2008) by Tajinder Singh Hayer http://apps.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/whatson/Details.aspx?id=25048
- 1001 (2009) by Tajinder Singh Hayer
External links
Peshkar's official website: http://www.peshkar.co.uk/Peshkar's Arts Council profile: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/rfo/peshkar-productions/