Jatinder Verma, MBE (born 1954), is a British theatre director and activist, who in 1977 co-founded the

British Asian British Asians (also referred to as Asian Britons) are British people of Asian people, Asian descent. They constitute a significant and growing minority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with a population of 5.76 million people or 8.6 ...

theatre company Tara Arts, leading it as artistic director.Bosanquet, Theo (15 January 2020)
"Big Interviews: Jatinder Verma"
''

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. Founded in 1880, ''The Stage'' contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at thos ...

''.

Biography

Born in

Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (, ; from ) is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of the Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over 7 million people, Dar es Salaam is the largest city in East Africa by population and the ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

, and raised in

Nairobi, Kenya Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a reference to the Nairobi Riv ...

, he moved with his family to Britain as a 14-year-old in February 1968. He attended

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

and

Sussex University The University of Sussex is a public research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the South Downs National Park, and provide ...

. Verma was one of the co-founders of Tara Arts, a

theatre company that was created in response to the racial tensions in Britain in the late 1970s. Verma directed Tara's very first production (an adaptation of a

Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

play) at

Battersea Arts Centre The Battersea Arts Centre ("BAC") is a performance space specialising in Theater, theatre productions. Located near Clapham Junction railway station in Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, it was formerly Battersea Town Hall. It is a ...

in August 1977. Later on, Tara Arts got its own theatre on Garratt Lane,

Earlsfield Earlsfield is an area within the London Borough of Wandsworth, London, England. It is a typical south London suburb and comprises mostly residential Victorian terraced houses with a high street of shops, bars, and restaurants between Garratt Lan ...

in South London."Meeting the team: Jatinder Verma Consultant Artistic Director"
Tara Arts. Regarded as one of the pioneers of British Asian theatre, Verma has received numerous honours, including an MBE for his services to the arts in the

2017 New Year Honours The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

."Mayor's Roll of Honour 2017"
Wandsworth.gov.uk. Verma led Tara Arts as Artistic Director since inception before stepping down after 43 years. He had initiated, and managed the project through to its completion in 2016, a total rebuilding of Tara Theatre, its headquarters. It included using the yellow bricks from the original building, now a distinct, warm, welcoming feature of its new auditorium, foyer and exterior.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verma, Jatinder British theatre directors 1954 births Living people Alumni of the University of York Alumni of the University of Sussex Members_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire