If I were 22: Tanika Gupta

#IfIwere22: I would break the rules more #APNewPro @artspro

I say this because I worry that I was a little too well behaved in my twenties. As I’ve got older, I have definitely loosened up, but back in the day, I was a bit too conventional. On the other hand, I had young children and had to earn a living to support the family, so I couldn’t exactly go for sex ‘n’ drugs ‘n’ rock ‘n’ roll. But in terms of my writing, I would advise myself to break with form and structure and definitely not worry about doing things by the book.

#IfIwere22: I wouldn’t pay any heed to the critics – good, bad or ugly #APNewPro @artspro

“Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a dog how it feels about lamp posts” (John Osborne) – is now my motto.

I have more or less had a play on a main stage in the UK every year since 1997. And in the early days, every bad review sat like poison in the pit of my stomach. Even the good ones had something twisted in them.

Like most writers, I felt misunderstood, or my plays were misrepresented. Because my work was multicultural and I am of Asian origin, the reviewers often mentioned curry: “like all good curries, this one needed to be baked in the tandoor oven longer” – that sort of thing. The reviews were so often racist, disrespectful, offensive or simply coming from a totally ignorant standpoint – labelling my characters ‘westernised Asians’ and calling me an ‘Indian writer’. Even though I was born and brought up in the UK, went to school and university here, and write in English about Britain.

Now, I read reviews if I feel like it, but the bad ones don’t affect me because I don’t believe the critics understand the world I am writing about.

#IfIwere22: I’d train as an actor #APNewPro @artspro

I was always too self conscious to be an actor, but when I was at school, I wasn’t bad. I liked reading out loud and even wrote and acted in short plays for my class mates. I’m not saying I could have been a Judi Dench, but working as an actor alongside the writing could have been interesting.

Writing can be a lonely process. I work with actors all the time now and they always seem to have such a laugh. The best ones have no inhibitions and are constantly experimenting. Emma Rice’s rehearsals always starts with a very competitive game of volley ball or keepie uppie and it’s such fun! I always join in. It’s good to move, to be more physical, because writing can be so sedentary.

#IfIwere22: I wouldn’t sit around waiting to be discovered #APNewPro @artspro

It’s important to be active and get your work and voice out there.

I do think that men are better than women at this. Perhaps it’s changing? I’m not sure because there is still a lack of plays written by women out there on theatre stages. It’s about being confident and believing in yourself rather than being pushy, arrogant and self-centred.

Write to theatres, send plays off for competitions, discover a director you like and approach them with your play/idea. We all need champions as well as collaborators.

#IfIwere22: I’d try to develop a thicker skin #APNewPro @artspro

Being a professional writer is also about being able to take notes, rejection and not to take criticism as a slap in the face.

In the early days, I was often very disheartened and depressed by rejection, which stopped me in my tracks. I more or less gave up writing for TV because I found the feedback so hard. But now I realise that one has to rise above it and just keep on keeping on because none of it is personal. I’m back writing for TV now and enjoying it immensely.

Tanika Gupta is a playwright. Her new comedy, Love N Stuff, is on at Theatre Royal Stratford East.
Tw: @Tanika_Gupta
http://www.stratfordeast.com/whats-on/all-shows/love-n-stuff/