Tamasha Announces Next Chapter Under Sole Leadership of Pooja Ghai as Valerie Synmoie Concludes Transformative Decade

For 35 years, Tamasha Theatre Company has been at the forefront of championing Global Majority artists on the British stage. Today, the company announces a new chapter: Pooja Ghai assumes sole leadership as Artistic Director and Chief Executive Officer, as Valerie Synmoie concludes a decade of service as Executive Director and Joint CEO.  

Over the past five years, Tamasha has reshaped its artistic and organisational model: building a clear pipeline from writer development to mid-scale production and placing Global Majority artists at the centre — not on the margins — of British theatre. Central to this is SHIFT, Tamasha’s artist development methodology, rooted in dramaturgical practice and an explicitly anti-racist approach to how work is made. Rather than moulding writers to fit existing stages, SHIFT builds the conditions for artists to create through a genuinely global lens — work that is irreducibly theirs. Developed under Ghai’s and Synmoie’s joint leadership and generously supported by Paul Hamlyn Foundation, SHIFT has become one of Tamasha’s most significant contributions to the wider sector. 

Tamasha has taken bold strategic decisions to secure a sustainable future for its artists: reducing its operational footprint to redirect resources toward creative production, restructuring the organisation to centre the art and the artists. The foundations are in place. As sole Artistic Director and CEO, Ghai now leads Tamasha into its next phase — consolidating the company’s position as a production-focused home for Global Majority artists and carrying the work from development to the national stage with rigour and ambition. 

Synmoie joined Tamasha at a pivotal moment and led the organisation through a sustained period of stabilisation and change. Over ten years, she strengthened governance, diversified income and developed the operational infrastructure to support artistic production. She steered the company through the Covid-19 pandemic and expanded its development programmes, digital work and Creative Wellbeing activity, ensuring continuity during a period of significant sector disruption. 

Valerie Synmoie said: ’I’ve enormously enjoyed my time at Tamasha. We’ve faced our share of challenges over the last 10 years as many other arts organisations have done, but when I look back the things that stand out are the incredible productions we’ve toured, the artists we’ve worked with, the feedback from audiences who have been moved to reach out, the amazing partnerships we’ve developed. I’ve loved working with Pooja over the last five years and am happy to be leaving at a point where Tamasha is in the best hands and in a strong and exciting place, ready to embark on a new period of growth. 

Pooja Ghai said: “Working alongside Valerie over the past five years has shaped everything we have built together. Her rigour, her commitment to the artists and her belief in what Tamasha could become have been foundational — I carry that with me. I am deeply grateful for her partnership and for the decade of dedication she has given to Tamasha.  

This next chapter is about scale and confidence, but we are also responding to a persistent and urgent gap. Global Majority artists remain underrepresented on our stages, under-resourced in their development and too often excluded from sustained investment. At a moment of global upheaval – politically, socially and culturally – new writing is our future history. . We need bold, complex stories that help us make sense of the world as it is now, that challenge dominant narratives and that imagine more just and expansive futures.” 

Chair of the Board, Deepa Patel, said: “Valerie’s contribution to Tamasha over the past decade has been substantial. Her leadership has ensured the organisation is well placed for its next phase. The partnership between Valerie and Pooja over the past five years has established a focused artistic and operational model. On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Valerie for her commitment and welcome Pooja as she takes this work forward.” 

Further details about Tamasha’s forthcoming productions and partnerships will be announced in the coming months.