Renu’s Work
Renu Arora is an award-winning disabled artist (actor, singer and writer) and public figure of South Asian heritage, with a body of work spanning 20 years.
The Magician’s Elephant
The Royal Shakespeare Company - Madame LaVaughn
A magician conjures an elephant from the sky, setting off a chain of events so remarkable, so impossible, that it changes life in this quiet and lonely town forever. "Magic is always impossible. That's what makes it magic."
“Renu Arora’s Madame [LaVaughn] is the high point of the production.”
- Susannah Clapp, The Guardian
From The Canyons We Create
Royal Literary Fund - Commissioned writer
A poem commissioned by the Royal Literary Fund about how the artist Frida Khalo, who was born on 6 July 1907, inspired Renu Arora.
The Burgundy Book
Creator, writer, composer and performer
A concept album inspired by a life-changing accident and near-death experience (NDE). Told through a personal lens, and using original music, song and spoken word, it asks big questions about how to navigate the before and after.
Funded by Arts Council England and Help Musicians. Supported by The Kiln, The Riverside Studios, The Space, Disability Arts Online (DAO) and Graeae.
Sideways
Renu’s NDE - Featured Artist
Matthew Syed ponders the extraordinary possibility of experiencing joy while suffering and hears more about the remarkable potential of the brain to respond to trauma in unexpected ways. He discovers how others too, like actor Renu Arora, experienced something similar when she was hit by a bus - and considers how such stories might help us shift our perspective on pain.
Broadcast on January 22nd, 2025
Whose Sari Now?
Theatre Royal Stratford East - Vocal composer, singer
Written and performed by Rani Moorthy | Directed by Kimberley Sykes
Bold and powerful theatre that takes you beyond the Bollywood wet sari! By turns funny and poignant, 5 characters share their sari tales; from an old Asian woman whose saris are like her second skin, a young mother giving birth in a war zone wrapping her twin babies in her wedding sari, a Malaysian historian connects the sari with mythology, a transgender reflects on his girlfriend’s sari obsession, a low caste weaver and a character who contemplates the sari in her final hours.
“heartwarming, uplifting, inviting, lovely.”
- Gillian Greer, Exeunt Magazine
Photos by Scott Rylander
Women of Hope
Tamasha Theatre - Creator, writer, composer
Inspired by testimonies of women who have transcended domestic violence, Women of Hope was a pioneering piece of verbatim music theatre that explored the women’s incredible journeys.
Music composed by Amal Lad, Richard Norris and Renu Arora. In association with Amnesty International, Latin American Women’s Aid and Asha Charity. An original Tamasha commission. Supported by Arts Council England.
The Crossing
Tamasha Theatre - Co-creator, performer, composer
Renu worked as Co-Creator, Composer and Director on The Crossing. Renu also performed and recorded compositions to feature in the show. The Crossing was a verbatim and devised theatre piece around the Partition of India and Vietnam War.
Co-created with Tamasha. Awarded the London Hub’s Mosaic Bursary.
From Running Water
Bristol Old Vic - Performer
Renu was part of the team as an actor/deviser. From Running Water is a verbatim theatre piece based on women’s experiences of Domestic Violence and Abuse. To create the show, the company used and responded to recorded verbatim material on women’s experiences of DVA collated for healthtalk.org.
A collaboration with Bristol Old Vic and Propolis Theatre
Photos by Chelsey Cliff
Liferaft Into Tomorrow
Writer and performer
A single from the upcoming musical The Burgundy Book
