Rifco Theatre Company

Rifco Arts

Rifco Theatre Company emerged in 1999 out of a collaboration between Ajay Chhabra, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, Parvesh Kumar and Harvey Virdi and their play Airport 2000: Asians in Transit. Established in 2000 and led by artistic director Pravesh Kumar, since then Rifco has established itself as a major theatre company for South Asian plays and musicals. Initially incorporated under the name Rifco Art, the company has toured extensively across Britain.

It has focused on new writing and original productions, aiming at family audiences and drawing on popular entertainment forms such as bhangra and Bollywood to appeal to British South Asian audiences in mainstream venues. It has produced plays by Kumar, Harvey Virdi, Sonia Likhari, Yasmeen Khan, Sukh Ojla, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, Yasmin Wilde and Viraj Juneja. Since 2012 the organization has been funded by Arts Council England, most recently as part of the Let’s Create scheme as a National Portfolio Organization.

Alongside its touring programme, the organization has also produced web series including sketches and short-form documentaries. Initially based in Slough, since 2011 Rifco Theatre Company has been the resident company at Watford Palace Theatre, which has co-produced many of their shows. Other collaborating venues and co-producing houses have included Theatre Royal Stratford East, Warwick Arts Centre, Oldham Coliseum, HOME Manchester and Wolverhampton Grand Theatre.

In 2015 it launched Rifco Associates, a programme spearheaded by the Company’s associate director Ameet Chana alongside Kumar to foster new South Asian talent in the theatre industry, creating opportunities for performers, writers, composers, designers and lyricists. In 2025 the Company’s associate programme focused on members of the LGBTQIA+ community to solicit new scripts. The programme offers development support through mentorship, workshops, masterclasses and residencies and industry showcases. The 2017 play There’s Something about Simmy has been adapted as a film, Little English, which premiered in 2024. Its 2024 musical Frankie Goes to Bollywood toured across the UK, culminating in a summer season at London’s Southbank Centre.