Simran Uppal
Simran is a poet, theatremaker, yoga teacher and organiser. They’re curious about bliss, devotion, trauma and the body, and like to work in the space between translation and sensation. They are interested in art-making as a space for collective dreaming, healing and resisting. They are a Barbican Young Poet, received a mentorship-residency from the North Wall Theatre, and have made theatre in London, Berlin and Oxford, mostly after founding Coriander Theatre, the UK’s first theatre company made up entirely of queer people of colour. Some recent poetry commissions are English Heritage, Sony, and the Barbican Galleries. Outside of art-making, they teach movement, chant and rest, are an organiser with the Yoga Teachers’ Union (a branch of the IWGB), and collaborate with Mosaic LGBT Youth Centre in Camden. They live in Hackney where they work for a local anti-poverty charity.
Why Khameleon?
I was incredibly lucky to work with Khameleon a few years ago, when they revolutionised the Oxford student theatre scene with their stunning all-BAME Medea; the chance to be part of that team again and for a second time not only write a performance poetry piece but be present as all different disciplines become woven in under Fran’s extraordinary eye and a chorus scene is made… There was absolutely no way I could pass that up. Their pioneering theatre making in that scene was so important to my own confidence as student poet and theatre-maker, and working together a little later in our careers feels like something truly precious to me: making something as young artists rather than students, able to delve even deeper, reach a wider audience, and respond to the world as it is now. Khameleon are profoundly committed to their ethos as art-makers in the world, and I’m excited to raise my voice as part of this community.