Royal Court International Playwright returns to London with new play

Chennai-based playwright Anupama Chandrasekhar, an alumnus of the Genesis Foundation supported International Playwrights programme at the Royal Court, returns to London with her latest play, Disconnect, which will have its world premiere at the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs from 17 February until 20 March.

Anupama Chandrasekhar, who lives in Chennai, was discovered by the Royal Court's International Department during their work in India.  As a young journalist with aspirations to be a playwright, she first attended the International Residency for Young Playwrights in London at the Royal Court in 2000 and continued to develop a play with the department.  Her first play, Free Outgoing, opened at the Royal Court's Theatre Upstairs in 2007, before transferring downstairs in 2008 as part of the Upstairs/Downstairs season.

Her new play, Disconnect, set in a contemporary Indian call centre, shows the connections and disconnections between economies and people on opposite sides of the world.  The play tells the story of bright young graduates in a Chennai call centre working to claw back cash spent by Americans crippled by debt.

"You are part of something historic.  What you do in your cubicle is of utmost importance to the world economy.  If America is robust, India is robust, the world is robust."

The play will be directed by Indhu Rubasingham who also worked with Anupama on her hugely successful first play, Free Outgoing (2007), also supported by the Genesis Foundation.

We recently caught up with Indhu, Anupama and the Head of the International Department at the Royal Court, Elyse Dodgson, who kindly took time out of their busy schedules to talk to us about this new and exciting project.  Click here to view the interviews in our media section.

To book tickets, please click here.