Lolita Chakrabarti

Lolita Chakrabarti OBE (born 1 June 1969) is a British actress and writer.[1][2]

Lolita Chakrabarti

OBE
Born (1969-06-01) 1 June 1969
Kingston upon Hull, UK
Alma materRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupation
Spouse(s)Adrian Lester
Children2
RelativesReeta Chakrabarti (sister)

Early life

Chakrabarti was born in Kingston upon Hull to Bengali Hindu parents from India on 1 June 1969, later growing up in Birmingham where her father worked as an orthopaedic surgeon at Selly Oak Hospital.[2]

Career

Acting

Chakrabarti graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 1990.[3]

Her screen credits include Vigil, Showtrial' The Wheel of Time .[4], Criminal: UK, Riviera, Delicious, Defending the Guilty, All Is True, Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands, The Casual Vacancy, My Mad Fat Diary, Jekyll and Hyde, Intruders, Bodies, Vera, Outnumbered, Hustle, Born to Kill, Forgiven, Extras Christmas Special, William and Mary, Fortysomething, Holby City, Silent Witness, and as WPC Jamila Blake in the long running ITV drama The Bill.[5]

Her theatre credits include Fanny and Alexander for The Old Vic (2018), Gertrude in Hamlet starring Tom Hiddleston and directed by Kenneth Branagh for RADA (2017), The Great Game: Afghanistan for the Tricycle Theatre (2009), Last Seen for the Almeida (2009) (which she co-wrote), Free Outgoing for the Royal Court (2008) and John Gabriel Borkman for the Donmar Warehouse (2007).

From 1993 to 1996, Chakrabarti presented the BBC children's educational programme Numbertime.

Chakrabarti was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to drama.[6]

Writing

Chakrabarti's adaptation of Booker Prize-winning novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel for the Crucible Theatre won a WhatsOnStage Award for Best New Play in 2020 and four UK Theatre Awards in 2019 for Best Play, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Design. Also winner of the Cameo Awards Book to Stage Award in 2020. The show opened at Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End in November 2021 to rave reviews.

Her writing credits include Hymn at the Almeida Theatre which opened during lockdown in 2021 and was live streamed for several nights, garnering four- and five-starred reviews and reached thousands of people across the world. It went on to open to a live audience in July of that same year.

An adaptation of Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities in collaboration with 59Productions, Rambert Dance and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui at Manchester International Festival and Brisbane Festival. It was reimagined as a VR film for Hong Kong New Vision festival and titled Stones of Venice.

Red Velvet, Chakrabarti's play about Ira Aldridge, an African-American actor at the centre of controversy in 1833 when he takes over from Edmund Kean in Othello at the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden premiered in 2012 at the Tricycle Theatre, London.[7][8] It returned to The Tricycle in 2014 before transferring to St. Ann's Warehouse in New York. It returned again to the Garrick Theatre in London's West End as part of Kenneth Branagh's season in 2016. Chicago Shakespeare Theater and San Diego's Old Globe Theatre presented Red Velvet in 2017-18. Red Velvet has had over twenty five productions in the United States.

The play won Chakrabarti the Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright at the 2012 Evening Standard Theatre Awards. That same year she was nominated for Best New Play and London Newcomer of the Year at the Whatsonstage Awards. She won the award for Most Promising Playwright at the Critics Circle Awards in January 2013 and was awarded the AWA Award for Arts and Culture that same year. Red Velvet was also nominated for an Olivier Award in 2013 and Adrian Lester was nominated for an Olivier in 2016 for his portrayal of Ira Aldridge in Red Velvet.[9]

In 2020 Chakrabarti was dramaturg on Message in a Bottle for Kate Price and ZooNation and Sadler's Wells. An important story told through dance with Sting's iconic music about a family who become refugees because of civil war.

Adrian Lester and Lolita Chakrabarti : A Working Diary was published by Bloomsbury in 2020. It charted a year in the working life of Chakrabarti and her husband, celebrated actor and director, Adrian Lester.

In 2018, Chakrabarti curated The Greatest Wealth for The Old Vic, London. She commissioned eight monologues, of which she also wrote one in recognition of the 70th birthday of the NHS. The season was relaunched online during the pandemic in 2020 with a new monologue written by Booker Prize winning novelist Bernadine Evaristo.

Chakrabarti also wrote The Goddess for Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4, Faith, Hope and Blue Charity, on BBC Radio 4, and (with Simon Burt and Matthew David Scott) Last Seen for Slung Low and the Almeida.[10][11]

Producing

Chakrabarti ran Lesata Productions with Rosa Maggiora. In 2011, they produced Of Mary, a short film that won the Best Short Film Award at PAFF, Los Angeles 2012. Chakrabarti and Maggiora were nominated for the Best Producer Award at the Underwire Film Festival, London 2011.[12]

Personal life

Chakrabarti is married to actor Adrian Lester whom she met while they were both students at RADA.[13] They have two daughters, Lila and Jasmine, both born in Southwark, London.

References
  1. "findmypast.co.uk". Findmypast.
  2. Roy, Amit (2 December 2012). "Play it again, Lolita". The Telegraph. Kolcata. Archived from the original on 11 April 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  3. "RADA: The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art - Student". www.rada.ac.uk. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  4. Denzel, Jason (25 June 2020). "Casting Announcement for Six Emond's Field characters". Dragonmount. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  5. Lolita Chakrabarti at IMDb
  6. "No. 63377". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 2021. p. B11.
  7. Billington, Michael (17 October 2012). "Red Velvet – Review". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  8. Chakrabarti, Lolita (28 January 2014). "Lolita Chakrabarti, 'Red Velvet', and what's wrong with theatre today". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 29 January 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  9. Brantley, Ben (1 April 2014). "Grandeur Under Siege: 'Red Velvet' Recalls One Shocked London Audience". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 April 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  10. "Last Seen". Slung Low. Archived from the original on 11 April 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  11. Gardner, Lyn (14 July 2009). "Last Seen". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  12. Of Mary (2011), "Full cast and crew" at imdb.com; retrieved 17 November 2012.
  13. Patterson, Christina (6 January 2009). "Adrian Lester: Back on the Hustle". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 19 January 2009. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
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