Anita and Me (Oberon Modern Plays) - Softcover

Syal, Meera

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1783199318 ISBN 13: 9781783199310

Publisher: Oberon Books, 2016

Synopsis

This poignant coming-of-age tale follows Meena, a girl growing up in the only Punjabi family in a 1970s Black Country mining village. Meena spends her days happily getting into scrapes with the local children until one day the impossibly cool Anita enters her life. Soon Meena’s world is turned upside down as she is caught between two very different cultures.

About this title

About the Author

Tanika Gupta has written for theatre, radio, film and television. Aside from the works published by Oberon, her stage plays include Voices On The Wind (NT Studio), Skeleton (Soho Theatre), On The Couch With Enoch (Red Room - BAC) and The Waiting Room (NT) which won the John Whiting Award. She has also translated Brecht's The Good Woman of Setzuan for the National Theatre Education Touring and written plays for Theatre Royal Stratford East's Young Actor's Company Brood and Squid. Tanika is an Honorary Fellow at Rose Bruford College and was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2008 for Services to Drama.

From Kirkus Reviews

Nine-year-old Meena Kumar's cheeky narrative of her life as the only Punjabi girl in a small English village unfolds through wonderfully evocative description. Tollington, a once-thriving Midlands mining village, is, in the early '70s, on the decline. When the mines shut down, the men are idled while the town's suddenly assertive women form the Ballbearings Committee, a name to designate their employment at the local factory (among other things). A highway threatens to take away part of the village, the grammar school is closing down, skinheads are beginning to loiter in the kiddie park, and suburban sprawl is inching closer. These ominous changes form the background of the inventive Meena's life. She is alternately amused and embarrassed by her family and idolizes the roughest, brassiest girl in town, Anita Rutter. Meena is, much to her parents' chagrin, no angel: She lies, commits minor thefts, and has the bad habit of making vulgar remarks when her prim and proper aunties are around. Each small incident that Meena tells about leads to an arsenal of vividly described related anecdotes before the linear narrative is finally regained, a process that forms an endearing, richly three- dimensional picture of Meena and her family. Meanwhile, the story of the girl's relationship with Anita nicely illuminates the difficult, unspoken politics of childhood friendship. The two girls lead a gang, bully others, and engage in exuberant antics even though, in an increasingly poor and tense England, there is always an ominous undercurrent to events. Anita's black poodle is named ``Nigger,'' a local Indian bank manager is the victim of a racial attack, and Meena's secret love becomes a boot-stomping skinhead. Meena's loss of innocence, and her recognition of her heritage, coincides with her realization that her seemingly harmonious village also harbors violence, hatred, and fear. Syal handles all of this with an expert hand. Far from just another coming-of-age saga, Syal's impressive debut offers a charming yet troubling evocation of recent times. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1783199318
• ISBN 13: 9781783199310
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 96