On my way to meet Tanika Gupta in the café at National Theatre, I read an announcement that her play The Empress is to be staged by RSC this summer at The Swan in Stratford with a transfer to Lyric Hammersmith. And it makes a lovely start to an interview which turns out to be more like a cheerful chat between friends than work.
“Yes,” she says, “This has been decided for some time, but it’s only just been made public today. Auditions start tomorrow and it goes into rehearsal
