East is East

There’s a warning before this 30^th anniversary revival that the play dates back to 1970 when times were different.

So, it was lovely to see just how today’s multi-cultural society is making East is East a piece of theatre everyone can enjoy and laugh at without feeling uncomfortable.

Writer Ayub Khan Din based the play on growing up in Salford, Manchester, to a Pakistani father and an English mother. The busy household, full of children, was often chaotic and fiery and East is East is in tribute to that time.

Balancing cultural satire with dark domestic violence can be tricky but the play, currently showing at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, is delicate and well thought out and even though times have changed, the messages are still clear.

The story is centred around the Khan family, with father, George (Bhasker Patel), who moved to England in his youth and married Ella (Samantha Power) with George wanting to hold onto his Pakistani values, while Ella is just keen to keep the peace and hold her family together.

The couple and their seven children Tariq (Zaki Ali), Meenah (Maya Dhokia), Abdul (Danyal Ismail) Saleem (Matthew Khan), Sajit (Rohan McLeod), Maneer (Joeravar Sangha) and the unseen Nazir, live in Salford and run a chip shop.

The youngsters want to embrace the western world but are not seen as English by local people and are confused as to how to honour their father’s traditions and live their life the same as everyone else.

It’s a powerful story which addresses the problems the youngsters experience just dealing with growing up and the cultural expectations their father has of them, including having arranged marriages and being circumcised.

Ella’s pal, known as Auntie Annie (Victoria Brazier) tries to keep the family in harmony and is the voice of reason when George invites well to do Mr Shah (Sushil Chudasma) to meet his sons to discuss an arranged marriage. The cast is completed with off stage swing actors, Rahul Sidhu and Zoe Iqbal.

There’s drama peppered with laughs as the children try to cover up their secret fry ups with curry powder and indulge their father as he tells them often, of how everyone was more respectful in his native Pakistan.

But there is sadness too as the youngsters battle with their own problems, maximised by being squeezed into a tiny house.

Rachana Jadhav set design gives the show a great lift, switching beautifully between the cramped family kitchen, chip shop, hospital and parlour room and director Kash Arshad brings a lovely balance between the serious and fun sides of what is still can be a very complex and emotive subject.

East is East, is a co-production between the Citizens Theatre, where it runs until 17^th October and the Octagon Theatre, Bolton and Wiltshire Creatives. It then moves to Derby Theatre from 20^th to 24^th October and Salisbury Playhouse between 3^rd and 14^th November 2026.

Author Bio:

Rebecca Hay is an experienced travel writer and member of The British Guild of Travel Writers. Follow her adventures with her family on Twitter and Instagram @emojiadventurer and on Facebook via EmojiAdventurers2.

Photographs by Pamela Raith Photography