Behzti and beyond: Lessons learnt from the work of Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti

Abstract

Developments in the sociopolitical scene have heavily influenced the artistic productions of a new generation, of black and Asian playwrights in Britain. Responses to problematic questions about culture, politics and religion encountered by decentred subjectivities are articulated in their artistic expressions. The aim of this article is to shed light on the challenges placed by a new generation of British Asian women playwrights to their community as a result of changing attitudes to values across generations and to assess the wider implications of the issues brought to the fore in the light of such expression. With her play Behzti (Dishonour) in 2004, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti provided a critique of and from within her community, protesting against the unspoken injustices that remain deeply concealed under the drape of the Sikh community in contemporary Britain. This article explores not only the challenges posited by Bhatti, but also the riotous reception that the play received in its first performance and the debates that ensued, and have continued to simmer in the backburners of the sociopolitical landscape of Britain through the last decade.