‘Rukhsati’ – Romantic comedy with serious themes delves into characters’ love lives in 1990s…

Dance and dialogue tell a story that has bittersweet notes, according to its writer…

TWO PEOPLE in a toilet cum storeroom in a hall, above a wedding taking place – doesn’t sound too promising put badly like that…

However, when it is revealed that the two were romantically involved and are bumping into each other after a long absence, you can sense the potential for drama.

This is the basic premise of a play called ‘Rukhsati’ – those familiar with South Asian weddings will know, culturally, it’s an important moment and recognises that the bride is now part of her husband’s family – not her own.

It’s an Urdu term and more formally associated with Islam, but other South Asian wedding traditions have similar ideas – some would argue it remains a patriarchal concept and from the way ‘Rukhsati’ writer and director Saqib Deshmukh describes his play, it might be something to consider.

The two characters are married to other people now and one has children, the other not.

First performed last year in Wandsworth, as part of the Mayor of London’s Borough of Culture at Theatre 503 in Battersea, it was put on for two nights to a packed theatre.

The play is set around South London – an area Deshmukh is very familiar with having grown up there.

“It’s reflected in the play, areas around Tooting, Colliers Wood, where I grew up.

“It’s a bittersweet romantic comedy and about something we don’t see enough of – middle aged South Asians in relationships,” revealed Deshmukh, who has been writing plays for a while as a veteran of Tara Arts (now Tara Theatre). “Everything is around young people but this is looking at two people who are in their mind-40s.”

The action takes place above a wedding hall venue in Tooting. Tariq (Hassan Khan) and Nighat (Catherine Mobley) used to be together in their early 20s – and they are at a venue they know well through their previous history.

“They kind of sneak in there to get away and start reminiscing. It’s also quite stark and hard-hitting and secrets emerge,” Deshmukh spilled.

As well as the two actors on stage which doesn’t really change from the one set, illustrating this toilet-storeroom, there’s a DJ (Andrea Somasunderam).

“They talk a lot about what they used to do and we use dance and music to tell the story.

“There are different dance sequences which my daughter has choregraphed as she is a bhangra choreographer (Aisha Rana-Deshmukh).”

The DJ also is a commentator of sorts and addresses the audience too – she’s actually the wedding DJ as well.

“It’s semi-autobiographical, I was a Bhangra DJ and a lot of it is set in the 1990s and from stories and histories I knew about and they are interwoven into the story.”

“There are issues around subjects such as feminism, masculinity and the expectations of society and how things have changed now.”

He said one of the motivations of writing the play was his desire to bridge the generation gap.

“Asian parents aren’t that good at perhaps talking to our own children about what we did,” he explained.

Deshmukh also wants to take people back to a different time when there was more of a sense of a common Asian identity.

“It was very vibrant and rich. We used to say we are South Asian, desi.

“There was a sense of a common culture and a sense of South Asian unity – I have both Muslim and Hindu people in my immediate family, and there was a lot of intermarrying.

“We used to celebrate all festivals – Diwali, Christmas and Eid – because we had friends from all those communities.

“The play also deals with a lot of issues such as ‘Prevent’* and how Muslims were treated. It’s all very layered.”

Deshmukh is an experienced theatremaker, having been involved in the sector since the mid 1990s, both writing and managing theatre organisations – he ran Aajkal Theatre in Manchester for a few years before dividing his time between theatre and caring responsibilities.

His own theatre outfit Insaafi now produces ‘Rukhsati’ and it is supported by Tara Theatre.

The play is part of Collective Fringe which runs from Wednesday (January 21) to Sunday (January 25). This is a mini-festival of plays staged by a diverse actors training outfit that offers degree acting courses and with this initiative, showcases new plays, writers, actors and fledgling productions.

*Prevent is a government backed scheme introduced to combat extremism

Listing

Collective Fringe January 21-25

Collective Acting Studio, The Laundry, Hornsey Road Baths (Finsbury Park), 2 Tiltman Place, London N7 7EE
https://collectiveactingstudio.co.uk/collective-fringe-2026/

‘Rukshati’ plays from Thursday, January 22 – Sunday 25 8.45pm.
https://collectivefringe.replit.app/show/3

The play is 75 minutes long (finishes 10pm)

There are offers to see other plays included in a bundled general price