Tara Arts invited me to create a film telling one of the tales from the panchatantra, an ancient collection of Indian animal fables. You can watch me telling the story here:
I was interviewed on BBC Radio London by David and Carrie Grant about my involvement in the project, and you can listen to that interview here:
The Loyal Mongoose
A farmer brings home an orphaned mongoose to live with his wife and newborn daughter. But can it be trusted?
A tale of love and loyalty. Performed, filmed and brought to life by Sita Thomas.
Tara Tales and The Loyal Mongoose, bringing the fables of The Panchatantra to life, the joy of bringing these stories to families during lockdown, using animal characters to explore themes of friendship, courage, love, loyalty, kindness and wisdom, and the importance of rich and diverse voices being represented in storytelling and education.
Tara Tales available via www.tara-arts.com and suitable for everyone aged 6 years and over.
The Panchatantra is an ancient collection of Indian animal fables, believed to have originated more than 2500 years ago, written in Sanskrit by Vishnu Sharma to educate and entertain the children of the Indian Royal family.
Tara Arts is proud to bring these online stories to audiences young and old to celebrate diversity in children’s storytelling whilst the country’s theatres remain closed.
The company, formed over forty years ago, is a theatre with the rich diversity of voices with South Asian cultural heritage at its core.
The project has been created in light of a study by The Centre for Literacy and Primary Education suggesting that only 4% of the 9,115 Children’s books published in the UK in 2017 had a BAME character.
Tara Tales have been newly adapted by emerging young and award-winning writer Carmen Gaur.
