Rasa Theatre

Rasa is based in Manchester, UK. It was formed in 1998 by writer/performer Rani Moorthy, joined by producer Ed Higginson and video director Arthur Smith. The company develops and produces new narrative drama that explores complex cultural, social and political issues and shows that every personal story, cultural ritual or unfamiliar history has a universal resonance.

Rasa is a noun used in three different Asian languages. Each has a slightly different meaning. It means emotion in Sanskrit, essence in Tamil and taste or feeling in Malay. Each of these languages reflects the cultural background of Rani Moorthy.

Indian theatre more specifically sees Rasa as the rapture between artist and audience. As an art it looks to evoke nine rasas (emotions) within its audience: the comic, the pitiful, the erotic, the furious, the heroic, the terrible, the marvellous, the odious and the serene.

Rani Moorthy was born in Kuala Lumpur. Following the bloody Malaysian race riots of 1969 her family attempted to move to Singapore. Making it only as far as the border town, Rani found herself carrying a passport on her daily journey to be educated in Singapore. Eventually moving across the border she became a star of stage and screen and hosted her own hit TV comedy The Ra Ra Show.

Rani moved to the UK in 1996. She has since appeared in A&E (Granada), Coronation Street (Granada), Dead Meat (C4) and Romeo and Juliet (Birmingham Stage Company). As well as writing all of Rasa's productions she has also written for Doctors (BBC1), and is a popular host of Radio 2 Pause For Thought and guest presenter on BBC1 Heaven and Earth.

Rani has worked with Kala Kahani, both the Bloodstone School Drama Project in 2004 and, more recently, with the Kala Kahani New Writers Group.
Her current production 'Curry Tales' is touring th UK in February 2005.
For more information about Rani and the work of Rasa Theatre please click on the link below.