Freedom of speech in the arts debate (1/2)
in Asian Voices, Reviews and Roundtables
9th July 2011
INDEX ON CENSORSHIP: BEYOND BELIEF – POLICING, POLICY AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN THE ARTS
Debate on Policing Challenging Art, with Tamsin Allen (Head of media and information law at Bindmans LLP), the playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, Canon Giles Fraser (St Paul’s Cathedral), director David Lan, Chief Superintendent Peter Terry (Metropolitan Police) and Munira Mirza (director of Arts and Culture for the Mayor of London). The panel was chaired by Julia Farrington of Index on Censorship. Free Word Centre, Farringdon Road, London. Recorded: 5 July 2011.
The cancellation of Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s play Behzti at Birmingham Rep, following Sikh protests, was termed the most shaming theatrical event of the decade. Six years on, Bhatti’s satire on censorship Behud narrowly escaped the same fate when it premiered in Coventry in 2010.
