Renu Arora is an award-winning disabled artist - actor, singer, writer, and composer - as well as a public figure of South Asian heritage, with a body of work spanning over two decades.
A classically trained actor and singer, from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Renu creates original work defined by emotional precision and artistic range working on a variety of commercial and subsidised projects since her debut in 2006.
Her original stage and audio work has been commissioned by Arts Council England and The Royal Literary Fund, presented at leading UK venues, streamed internationally, and featured widely across the BBC. She has worked with major institutions including the Royal Shakespeare Company - where she starred to critical acclaim in the landmark world premiere musical The Magician’s Elephant, London’s Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall, Bristol Old Vic, Soho Theatre, Leicester Curve Theatre, Riverside Studios and Theatre Royal Stratford East, and has collaborated with companies including Tamasha, Tara Arts and Kali Theatre.
Renu has created several of her own shows supported by Arts Council England. These include Women of Hope, a piece of verbatim musical theatre around domestic violence produced in association with Amnesty International and The Crossing, a piece of verbatim theatre charting her Grandmother’s story of the partition of India eventually winning the London Hub’s Mosaic Bursary.
In 2017, Renu experienced a life-changing accident; she was hit by a bus and dragged under its wheel - overnight, her mobility changed, and she is now disabled and a wheelchair user. At the time of impact, she had a near-death experience (NDE), which became the inspiration for The Burgundy Book.
In an interview with The Guardian, Arorasaid: “I came to realise that the artistry is all still there… So the best thing to do would be to repurpose my career and define myself as a sit-down artist, which is what I did.”
When the global curtains fell in March 2020, they mirrored Arora’s own curtain coming down almost three years earlier, following her accident.
She pitched an original piece to the BBC: When the Curtain Came Down. The response was immediate, with callers jamming the switchboard recognising themselves in the work.
Subsequently, the BBC commissioned The Pandemic Trilogy, A Diwali Special, and Good Stories of 2020: The Year of Perfect Vision.
Renu and The Royal Shakespeare Company
“Renu Arora’s Madame [LaVaughn] is the high point of the production”- Susannah Clapp, The Guardian (Reviewing The Magician’s Elephant, RSC)
Renu completed a season at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) playing Madame LaVaughn, a principal role in The Magician‘s Elephant, the first RSC show to greet the reopening of global theatres.
Arora earnt glowing reviews in The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph and many more. Erica Whyman OBE (former acting Artistic Director of the RSC), and Marc Teitler (Music and Lyrics for The Magician’s Elephant - RSC) are now long term collaborators for The Burgundy Book.
She later became a founding member of the RSCs Freelance Consultation Group advocating for greater pay and representation for freelancers with a particular focus on disabled artists and creatives of colour.
Awards and recognition include:
Winner of the Peggy Ramsay Foundation Award for New Writing (2026) for The Burgundy Book
Shortlisted for the BBC Radio 4 Arts Commissioning Round (2024) for The Burgundy Book
Shortlisted for the Unlimited UK Open Awards (2024) for The Burgundy Book
Recipient of the NRI (Non-Resident Indian) Award for ‘Most Empowered and Courageous Artist’ (2022)
Founding member of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Freelance Consultation Group (2022)
Finalist for the BBC Culture in Quarantine Initiative (2021)
The Burgundy Book
Beyond the physical changes of Renu’s Near-Death Experience, the accident was profoundly transformative. In the suspended moments of the NDE, Renu witnessed a "Life Review" in the form of three books.
She saw the Blue Book of her past and the Green Book of her present. But just as she reached The Burgundy Book - containing her unlived future - she screamed. This scream thrust her back into her body, and she never saw the contents of that book.
Renu has received the prestigious Peggy Ramsay Award to write the Libretto for The Burgundy Book - a digitally immersive musical redefining the boundaries of modern musical theatre.
Furthermore, it has received a Arts Council England funding into a primary research and development phase into how Augmented and Virtual Reality can fundamentally alter the traditional audience experience into one that is deeply visceral and immersive.
The creative team includes direction by Erica Whyman OBE (former Acting Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company), dramaturgy by Sita Brahmachari (Malorie Blackman Impact Prize Winner 2025 and Waterstones Children's Book Prize Winner), and music consultancy by Marc Teitler (The Magician’s Elephant, RSC; The Grinning Man, Bristol Old Vic). Finally, award-winning creative technologist Piers Leigh whose credits include National Geographic, Netflix and the BBC.
On World Trauma Day 2025, Renu released the single Liferaft into Tomorrow now available on all streaming platforms.
The Burgundy Book live studio concept album features the Elysian Quartet and is due for release. Funded by Arts Council England and Help Musicians, and supported by The Kiln, The Riverside Studios, The Space, Disability Arts Online (DAO) and Graeae.
The Burgundy Book’s development is currently supported by Arts Council England, the Peggy Ramsay Foundation, artsdepot and the Unity Theatre Trust.
