Theatre News

Kickstarter campaign launched to tour Edinburgh hit Nirbhaya around India

The team behind the play ”Nirbhaya” are aiming to raise at least £50K to tour the production across India

Ankur Vikal and Priyanka Bose in Nirbhaya
Ankur Vikal and Priyanka Bose in Nirbhaya
© William Burdett-Coutts

The team behind Nirbhaya, the award-winning play about the Delhi rape case which was a hit at this year's Edinburgh Fringe, have launched a Kickstarter campaign to mount a tour of India.

The production, which aims to "give a voice to victims of sexual violence in India", won the 2013 Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award, as well as a Fringe First and a Herald Angel Award for its run in Edinburgh.

Nirbhaya (meaning “fearless”) is the name given to Jyoti Singh Pandey – the young woman who died from her injuries after being violently raped and assaulted on a bus in Delhi on December 16th 2012. Pandey, who fought for her life and testified against her perpetrators despite her grave injuries, brought to the attention of the world the staggering statistics of sexual and gender based violence plaguing India.

The play is written by Yael Farber (Mies Julie) and was the idea of actress Poorna Jagannathan, who asked Farber to come to India to create a new work that would continue to shatter the silence on sexual violence. A cast of seven actors collaborated with Farber over a 6 week period in Delhi, to create Nirbhaya.

The Kickstarter campaign has been launched to try and raise at least £50,000 to tour India in time for the one-year anniversary of Jyoti Singh Pandey’s attack. The aim is to hit the £500,000 mark to "make a lasting impact on breaking the silence around sexual violence". These funds will cover production costs and the essential personal security needed for the cast to be able to speak out about their own experiences, as well as enabling a larger vision for Nirbhaya as a powerful agent for change.