Beyond the Mud Walls

I led a year-long collaborative project with dancers, actors and a director, culminating in a performance at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh in September 2016 for Stellar Quines Theatre’s ‘Rehearsal Room’ to a live, ticket-paying audience. It highlights key moments in the life of Freda Bedi, an English woman who fought for India’s independence (serving a term as a political prisoner in India) after marrying a Punjabi gentleman. Bedi later became a high-ranking Buddhist nun, two of whose Tibetan pupils established the Samye Ling Tibetan Centre in the Scottish Borders, the first of its kind in the Western world. The performance explores issues of national identity, race, gender, language and class. It questions the degree to which these categories may be challenged and transcended, within the confines of political power, specifically with reference to colonialism and established social hierarchies. Funding was received from Creative Scotland, a Tom McGrath Award, Stellar Quines Theatre and support from DanceBase, Edinburgh. In addition to the Stellar Quines performance at the Traverse, it included a week-long residency at DanceBase, which culminated in a public sharing/performance in June 2016. A film trailer of the Traverse performance was produced by a professional filmmaker and the initial sharing was filmed by DanceBase. The performance weaves together the poetic script, which I wrote and developed over the project’s duration; and Indian classical dance (Bharatnatyam), featuring two dancers from Dance Ihayami, Edinburgh; as well as three actors. The script is based loosely on a (now out-of-print) book written by Bedi, Behind the Mud Walls, given to me by my uncle, Bedi’s eldest son in India. The film trailer is available on-line and can be viewed worldwide. It has reached a wide audience through social media and marketing, e.g., posters, leaflets, and promotion on Stellar Quines’s website and YouTube channel. In addition to the showcases at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh and DanceBase, Edinburgh, I have read and discussed extracts of the script at the Scottish Poetry Library, Story Cafe, June 2018