Below: Singer Kiran Kaur Ahluwalia (appearing here as a ship passenger), whose vocals will be featured in the production.
Film/Stage
Sharon Pollock’s Award Winning Play
The Komagata Maru Incident
To Be Staged in 2017 Stratford Season
NEWS REPORT
Stratford, Ontario, Canada
Kiran Kaur Ahluwalia will be providing Punjabi vocals for a newly revised version of Sharon Pollock’s 1976 play The Komagata Maru Incident – about a Japanese freighter carrying mostly Sikh passengers from the British Raj that was turned away from Canada in 1914 with tragic consequences.
Sharon Pollock is one of Canada’s great pioneer female playwrights and a Governor-General‘s Award recipient.
Written in 1976 it was first play to explore the racist immigration policies that led to the denial of entry to hundreds of emigrants, most of whom were Sikhs, from the British Raj when the Komagata Maru arrived at the Vancouver port in 1914.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued an apology for the incident last month on behalf of the Government of Canada.
“Director Keira Loughran, who has been a leader in the creation of new work in Canada, will work with Sharon Pollock to re-imagine this piece – integrating and reflecting the diverse community of Vancouver then, and Canadian theatre now – which will bring even greater insight into this remarkable play,” said Stratford Festival’s Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino.
Quelemia Sparrow – best known for her work in Blackstone, Unnatural and Accidental, and Clouds of Autumn -- will play T.S. in the re-imagined version of the play set in a Chinese brothel in 1914 in Vancouver. The cast will also include Jasmine Chen, Tyrone Savage and Diana Tso.
November 14, 2016