‘East is East’: cast changes and national tour for George ‘Genghis’ Khan…

July 13 2015

Award-winning play tours after London revival and sees the return of despotic Dad…

IF YOU MISSED the play “East is East” first time round, there’s a chance of a catching it outside of the West End now, as it is on a national tour until near the end of September.

It’s currently in Torquay from this evening, having been to Brighton, Aylesbury, Woking and Bromley last week.

The funny, touching, and well-directed play has much to recommend it – not least because it’s fun, but also has bite in tackling issues of religious and cultural identity.

There have been a few changes from the original cast that first took to the West End stage last October in a hugely successful revival of Ayub Khan Din’s classic drama of family squabbles amidst cultural and religious battles waged primarily by a tyrannical father, George Khan – dubbed ‘Genghis’ by his children for his unsparing manner.

Khan himself, a jobbing actor when he wrote the play, reprised the father role when it first returned to the West End some 20 years after it played there, and is now replaced by Simon Nagra.

Ella Khan (Pauline McLynn) and George Khan (Simon Nagra)

Instead of Jane Horrocks as the long suffering Ella Khan, Pauline McLynn of “Father Ted” fame, steps into the role of the matriarch, who tries to keep the peace.

Sally Bankes, best known from her time in “Coronation Street” plays incorrigible Aunty Annie, Ella’s best friend, and not always the best diplomat on the family’s sofa.

Adam Karim (Sajit, the teenager forever in his parka jacket), Assad Zaman (Saleem) and Dharmesh Patel (Abdul) and Salma Hoque (Meena) join siblings from the West End production, Ashley Kumar (Tariq) and Darren Kuppan (Maneer).

New to this production too are Sakuntala Ramanee, who plays the haughty Mrs Shah and Kammy Darweish essays her husband role (and the role of the Indian doctor who has to treat Karim and his ever-so-Pakistani father). The couple visit the Khans with the hope of securing a marriage for their two comely daughters but not all goes to plan in an uproarious and hilarious finale.

The play has stood the test of time extremely well with many of its themes as vital and relevant today as they were then.

Indeed, the battle of ideas and cultural integrity have become yet more acute as a more political, radical and ideological Islam or Islamism (as it should be termed) has emerged and is more widely disseminated than ever before through social media.

“East is East” is an important snapshot of a particular time, when the Asian question (such as it was) in Britain, was often one primarily of race and a shared culture accreted from the subcontinent. Some Hindu fathers would not have been too different to George, replacing: ‘This is not our religion or Islam’, with this is not ‘Indian culture’ (a common phrase still heard in India among conservative elements).

The present production is directed by Sam Yates, as was the first, which was part of Jamie Lloyd’s second Trafalgar Transformed season, and premiered at the Trafalgar Studios, near Traflagar Square, in October last year. It enjoyed a popular run until the New Year in the West End. Trafalgar Transformed is a campaigning initiative, devised by Lloyd, to get more people, especially young folks, into theatre and break down barriers for new and different audiences.

“East is East” was originally developed by Sudha Bhuchar and Tamasha theatre company. You can read more about it precise origins here.

It was first performed at the Birmingham Rep in 1996 before a Royal Court and then a West End transfer with Nadim Sawalha playing George and Linda Bassett in the role of Ella. She famously reprised the same role in the hugely popular 1999 film, with Om Puri playing husband George. There was also a less popular sequel to that film, “West is West” in 2010, featuring George (Puri) and Sajit (Aqib Khan) returning for a brief period to 1970s Pakistan with a screenplay by Khan Din.

Many audiences connect the first film to the play, believing the former came first.

The current tour is a reminder of the play’s strong drama and its immediacy and live energy put us right back in a time that cannot be captured in the same way on film and puts us right at the heart of the action.

Pictures (main top): Saleem (Assad Zaman); Meenah (Salma Hoque); Tariq (Ashley Kumar); Sajit (Adam Karim); Maneer (Darren Kuppan) by Marc Brenner

Previously

Transforming audiences – East is East Stage Return
‘East is East: A journey through Time’

The play’s tour continues:

Princes Theatre, Torquay July 13-18
http://www.atgtickets.com/venues/princess-theatre-torquay/

Theatre Royal, Nottingham, July 27- August 1
http://www.trch.co.uk/index.aspx?articleid=29565

Grand Opera House, York, August 3-8
http://www.atgtickets.com/shows/east-is-east/grand-opera-house-york/

Theatre Royal, Glasgow, August 10-15
http://www.atgtickets.com/shows/east-is-east/theatre-royal-glasgow/

The Alhambra Theatre, Bradford, (August 31- September 5
http://www.bradford-theatres.co.uk/whats-on/east-is-east

Sheffield Lyceum, September 7-12
http://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/event/east-is-east-15/

BathTheatre Royal , September 14-19
http://www.theatreroyal.org.uk/page/3028/East-is-East/1088

Oxford Playhouse, September 21-26
http://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/show/?eventid=3448