Meet the Director, Bali Padda / Guards at the Taj
February 21, 2022
I have long had a conflicted relationship with authority. Perhaps the yin-yang of a Gemini’s personality: the pressure to please and follow rules, against the strong urge to shift the status quo, has been with me for as long as I can remember. I try leaning into this paradox, to remember who we are, as a community… as a society… as an (apparent) democracy.
Each time we exercise our power or allow authority to decide how it holds power over citizens, there’s an impact, even on the simplest of relationships with our closest mates. We may be blinded by the blood of those we cut away in order to maintain this rotting status quo. It’s time to wash the blood out of our eyes and remember that no person is an island.
I was first introduced to the wit, intelligence and contrasts of Rajiv Joseph’s Guards at the Taj in late 2016. It’s stayed with me since, and made itself known in my subconscious, popping up again and again like a prairie dog in the thick-dense-grassy-plain-of-a-brain-space of mine. What a full-circle moment to now come back to this script for my professional theatre directing debut. This opportunity is humbling, soul-fortifying, and anxiety-inducing all at the same time.
Bali Padda
26 Feb – 5 March
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