Caste Away Arts

Sunday was Rehearsal 3 of The Fifth Cup. The love was still there but so was the pressure! We wanted everyone to be off-script for Sunday but some of the actors still didn’t know all their lines. Arrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggh!! We’ve got less than a month left!! 

It was a really productive day though. We tried to maximise the day and have several scene run-throughs going on at the same time. That was sometimes a bit difficult because some of the actors need to be in every scene. There was a bit of a tense moment when one of the actors got a bit stroppy with us when we changed some of the script. He said he felt pressured to learn his lines but it was a waste of time because of the changes we made. I understand why he was feeling the pressure because he’s got a lot on his plate and has a lot of lines in the play. Anyway, we had a talk and sorted everything out. It’s better to talk about these things rather than just keep quiet and bitch about eachother afterwards.

Our new Teacher, Angela, was briliant. She settled into the role and the team really well. One of our main actors, Dhar, was ill so couldn’t make it. That meant that there were certain scenes which we couldn’t rehearse. Surprisingly I stayed quite calm about that because I know Dhar will have learned his lines and will be ready for next rehearsal. He is a total professional.

Harv’s own production “Bhagat Singh” is on Sunday and some of the actors of The Fifth Cup are in that. I could tell that they were feeling the pressure because of the two scripts they are learning etc. I’m looking forward to Harv’s play a lot but I’m going to be glad when it’s over because then everyone will focus 100% on The Fifth Cup. Everyone is gonna live and breathe The Fifth Cup until the performance date!

Some of us went for a drink afterwards, it was Amit’s suggestion (he’s a social party animal!). It was an…erm…interesting experience ) What was really nice to see is how the younger actors like Jay are getting inspired. He’s getting better at acting and has written a play too. We’re going to help him with that and he has kindly offered to donate the proceeds to CasteWatchUK. All I can say is watch this space!!!

Pictures of The Fifth Cup Rehearsal Day Two are now on-line. Go to http://casteawayarts.com/whatson/thefifthcup to view!

Not only do Caste Away Arts do theatre which is total eye candy but we have our own range of hair care product for splitting hairs yes ladies, gents and in the betweenies its called Reena B’s MA! Dur dur doh!
Before I even got involved in Caste Away Arts I was a scruffy student with very bad split ends. I went to the University of Birmingham and did a MA in Social Research and cultural studies programme. I wanted desperately to do research. I am a very curious person and I though hey might as well do the taught programme and learn a few long words on the way. Here is an edited extract of my research. Enjoy the intellectual read and trust me it mends those nasty straw split ends. Mine have all gone 100% trust me with a monopoly money back guarantee.
 

Splitting Hairs

Intro – The problem
The research I undertook was a qualitative piece exploring the experiences of Casteism on British-born South Asian (Punjabi) people. This research involved conducting in-depth interviews with four respondents who had been subjected to Casteism and chose to come forward and speak out about their experiences. These four respondents were accumulated through personal acquaintances. The respondent groups all derived from an ‘untouchable’ Caste background and belonged to the Punjabi South Asian community. The research I undertook was a qualitative piece exploring the experiences of Casteism on British-born South Asian (Punjabi) people. This research involved conducting in-depth interviews with four respondents who had been subjected to Casteism and chose to come forward and speak out about their experiences. These four respondents were accumulated through personal acquaintances. The respondent groups all derived from an ‘untouchable’ Caste background and belonged to the Punjabi South Asian community. 
The main findings
The aim of this research was to gain an insight into the persistence of the Caste system in the UK. It was also a vehicle to voice the experiences of those who suffered Caste discrimination, and lastly hopefully to gain the acknowledgement of the reader that Casteism is a form of discrimination that needs to be challenged and addressed. 
This research was conducted by interviewing 4 respondents who stepped forward to share their experiences of Casteism. The interviews provided evidence to highlight the persistence of this phenomenon and it indicates the seriousness of the discrimination experienced. These experiences range from name-calling, a breakdown in relationships, being virtually ignored, and to exclusion in the work place. All of these experiences are far too important to ignore.
The main significant findings in this study are that Casteism does indeed exist in the UK and that it is imbedded into institutions of education, work and social and private life. This research also clearly indicates that the problem of Caste is not a simple phenomenon to grasp.
The extended family is an essential part of the culture of the South Asian community so that even where family members live in different parts of the UK, there is frequent contact and the influence of the family extends beyond the immediate geographical area of the home.  Therefore, in spite of the relatively small scale of this study, it would appear reasonable to suppose that the experiences of these respondents do represent those of other members of the South Asian community throughout the British Isles
One of the initial aims of my research was to highlight the fact that Caste discrimination exits in the UK and that it is a serious issue that can affect one’s life. The interviews demonstrate that Caste discrimination has had a negative impact on interviewees’ lives.
 

The research I undertook was a qualitative piece exploring the experiences of Casteism on British-born South Asian (Punjabi) people. This research involved conducting in-depth interviews with four respondents who had been subjected to Casteism and chose to come forward and speak out about their experiences. These four respondents were accumulated through personal acquaintances. The respondent groups all derived from an ‘untouchable’ Caste background and belonged to the Punjabi South Asian community. The aim of this research was to gain an insight into the persistence of the Caste system in the UK. It was also a vehicle to voice the experiences of those who suffered Caste discrimination, and lastly hopefully to gain the acknowledgement of the reader that Casteism is a form of discrimination that needs to be challenged and addressed. This research was conducted by interviewing 4 respondents who stepped forward to share their experiences of Casteism. The interviews provided evidence to highlight the persistence of this phenomenon and it indicates the seriousness of the discrimination experienced. These experiences range from name-calling, a breakdown in relationships, being virtually ignored, and to exclusion in the work place. All of these experiences are far too important to ignore.The main significant findings in this study are that Casteism does indeed exist in the UK and that it is imbedded into institutions of education, work and social and private life. This research also clearly indicates that the problem of Caste is not a simple phenomenon to grasp.The extended family is an essential part of the culture of the South Asian community so that even where family members live in different parts of the UK, there is frequent contact and the influence of the family extends beyond the immediate geographical area of the home.  Therefore, in spite of the relatively small scale of this study, it would appear reasonable to suppose that the experiences of these respondents do represent those of other members of the South Asian community throughout the British IslesOne of the initial aims of my research was to highlight the fact that Caste discrimination exits in the UK and that it is a serious issue that can affect one’s life. The interviews demonstrate that Caste discrimination has had a negative impact on interviewees’ lives.What Action needs to be taken?
Casteism is persistent amongst young British-born South Asian people. The experiences of Caste discrimination are far too serious to ignore and will continue to grow. This research acts as a proposal in an attempt to amend the Race Relations Act to acknowledge Casteism as a form of racism. This form of discrimination, like any other, needs to be acted upon and challenged in order to prevent experiences like those encountered by the respondents. The first step towards this is to change legislation by enacting laws that prevent Casteism and recognise this as a punishable offence.  Caste is like splitting hairs and this is the name of my thesis and I use this analogy because it is just that. We divide our selves from our selves. If the world hasn’t got enough bloody trouble we split hairs and it looks like a frigging mess. Sort it out and get some treatment and long term conditioner repair. WHERE?
 

THE FIFTH CUP! – for your splitting hair
  

I spent yesterday afternoon swanning around the corridors of power. I’m talking about The Houses of Parliament. - It wasn’t just for fun though, I was attending the CasteWatchUK conference. Quite a few people attended including various MPs, including Virendra Sharma, Labour MP for Ealing Southall, and Labour Councillor Elias Mattu from Wolverhampton. Elias Mattu was very encouraging about The Fifth Cup and he’s booked the date in his diary.

Now conferences aren’t really my thing (hence the reason I’m involved in the drama side of things) and I got a tiny bit lost with some of the legal terms being discussed, but what was most shocking to me were the testimonials. One of them was anonymous and one of them was by the very talented rapper and poet Shiv Gharu. He talked about how he was discriminated against by people that he thought were his friends, and his girlfriend’s dad who didn’t let him in the house because he was apparently an “untouchable”. He put his experiences into a piece of spoken word which was amazing - he rocked the Houses of Parliament!

As a writer I am always on the lookout for stories and inspiration and those testimonials definitely provided me with that.

For more details about the conference go to: http://www.castewatchuk.org/westminsterconference.htm

What a great day - QUALITY! I can still feel the love two days later! And by that I mean, the way that the whole cast and crew became friends (even I managed to put my whip away and crack a smile!), the emotions coming out during the scene workshops, and the way the community that use the Mandir interacted with us the whole day.

They showed us enough love - pakoray and tea in the morning, prashad at lunch, offering to make us langar for every rehearsal, and generally being really excited and supportive about The Fifth Cup. In one of the doors to the rehearsal room there was a hole in one of the panes of glass (how glam, NOT - we’re tryin to keep it real!) and loads of kids were peeping through so Reena promised to let them meet the actors later, she’s really good with kids, and they got really excited about it. Then my mom’s Masi barged in halfway through demanding to say hello to me. Lol! But it was all good.

We got loads done. The younger actors are developing loads and learning so much. They’re so enthusiastic and I love their energy. Reena Combo impressed me too, she only had the script for a couple of days but did really well. I love the way that everyone got into their characters, especially Dhar who did a lot of sitting on his own in corners with his script and looked like he was meditating at some points!
The only hitch in the rehearsal was the Teacher not turning up. She did let us know she couldn’t make it but Reena and I talked it through and decided that, for various reasons, we’re getting a new actress to play the Teacher. Harv has someone in mind so I’m sure it will all turn out ok.

The aim for the next rehearsal is to get everybody off-script. We tried to imagine how the set would look and made them move around the stage but it doesn’t really work with scripts in hand. And we need to move onto working on body language too.

One thing that made me really happy was that the changes made to the script worked really well. - Those late nights were worth it, who cares if I’m losing my looks?!?!

Ravina Rai booked the rest of our rehearsals in the house of God. A derelict old looking building from the outside but a beautiful reflection of Gods people from the inside- a  Mandir that I’ve forgot the name of. I loved it and loved the Tea and Pokroa I mean Langar. Nice one Ravina and nice lunch too. Dam that chutney was to die for. The spring rolld roll more on next week. Oh next time bring some more of those chocolates, nutra grains bars, fresh orange juice, holu hoops and Jay wants king size Maltesers, ambrosia creamed rice, a parker pen with a cherry on top, three gold velvet cushions, a X-box and a chair embossed with ‘Jay’, Jinder wants 10 shots of JD and his own bar in the dressing room with a fit bar maid etc………
 

Well got the team warmed up and shot into our scenes. Had a good crack today and really got into our characters? This was intense stuff. There was a lot of mellow drama, flamboyance and plain cheekiness from the class room scenes PRITPAL! I have changed my extra character from Lisa to Ish who smells like fish. It was a good laugh and that’s what’s important in life. Life’s toooooooooo short to be taken seriously so just keep doing what your all doing and smile a mile for a very long while.
 

Well done everyone and an extra well done for Reena Combo. Its not easy to just jump on a project that is half way complete but you fitted in like a glove and performed exceptional during workshops. Thank you so much for stepping in.
 

Originally had an idea to use the after show discussion for hot seating the charcters. Just thought it would bring out more entertainment for the audience and would be more creative. But Rena had a last minute idea of bringing on real life case studies in a after show discussion which will really impact our audiences with this horrible thing called Caste Discimination. ABOLISH IT NOW! JAI HIND!  

We have a new Simran! She’s going to be played by the lovely Reena Combo. She has worked with Harvinder before on the plays “Anum” and “Udham” and is also the Editor of Ikonz magazine (http://www.ikonzmag.com/). Of course being a Reena, she is multi-talented and gorgeous!…and er, modest ;o)
I’ve never met Reena Combo before but I’ve spoken to her on the phone, when I organised a radio interview for her, and on email. I’m looking forward to meeting her. I’m really excited about the rehearsal tomorrow, can’t wait to see how the script changes will look. From the conversations that I’ve had with them, the cast are pretty excited about everything too. I’ve got a marathon meeting with Reena B and Ravina in a bit.

So…we’ve got Rena A, Reena B and Reena C. Evidently we’re working our way through the alphabet. I wonder how far we’ll get by the end of the production…

Until tomorrow!
Rena A

As a social researcher there is nothing I do better than talking to the general public. My aim from now and until the first week of December is to collect narratives and voices of real people airing their opinions and feelings of anything their mind wants to unload regarding the topic of Caste! Yes my folks this is a rare one but we need to open our gobs and start talking about this ‘taboo’ issue.

I have collected some fascinating rare images of everyday people along with some unforgettable quotes such as:

“I don’t have opinion of caste because I’ve got loads friends, that used to be Harijan but are now Christians. They are close friends they eat down my house. My caste is Brahmin. . .They are the back bone of India (referring to ‘Harijans’) because they do jobs others couldn’t. They shouldn’t be disregarded” Anon (42) Management

“From my own experience I have found that the majority of Jatt girls to be very proud, bitchy and typical as well as fat, boring and predictable. They need to change their ways as they give Sikhism a real bad image with their attitude never mind the look. The boys will be boys but their Girls there something else” Anon (22) Msc Student

Wow! If this is shocking you wait until you hear the rest. Come and share your views after The Fifth Cup at our exhibition called ‘’Casting Away SILENCE” and prepare yourself for the debate of your life! Oh for crying out loud!

Reena B