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Unknown Others: South Asian Theatre and Its Audiences in Britain Today
York University, UK gg512@york.ac.uk
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In December 2004, the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in the United Kingdom decided to close down the play Behzti1 by the British-born Sikh woman playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti because "Violent scenes outside a Birmingham theatre could be repeated unless changes [were] made to a controversial play" according to a leading city Sikh cited in the Birmingham Mail (Newey 2006: 327). The playwright herself, a young woman hounded by male members from her own community, wrote on 13 January 2005: "I am still trying to process everything that's happened – my play, Behzti, has been cancelled; I’ve been physically threatened and verbally abused by people who don't know me; and my family has been harassed and I’ve had to leave my home." She described having been "frightened into silence" and having to deal with "the practical issues around my own safety and that of those close to me" as her priority