EAST IS EAST. To 1 April.
Leicester
EAST IS EAST
by Ayub Khan-Din
Haymarket Theatre To 1 April 2006
7.30pm Mat Sat 2.30pm
Runs 2hr 30min One interval
TICKETS: 0870 330 3131 (booking fee)
Review Hazel Brown: 11 March 2006 at Lighthouse, Poole
Superb, funny and moving picture of a family with one foot in the East and the other in the West.
All the best drama is based on truth. The truth of Ayub Khan-Din’s play (now ending its tour from Pilot Theatre in association with York Theatre Royal and Bolton Octagon) comes from the playwright’s background. He was part of a large Anglo-Pakistani family from Salford who owned a fish and chip shop, and must have felt the tension of having one foot in the West, while looking back to life in the East. It is a funny and moving slice of life.
The plot revolves around George and Ella Khan and their six children (plus one who got away, the unseen Nazir). George, who arrived from Pakistan in the 1930’s, rules the family with a rod of iron. Each of his children tries to find their way of dealing with this. Young Sajit hides in a hooded parka, refusing to speak. Meenah likess football and short skirts to tradition, but still serves her brothers. Maneer tries to appease his father by being a good Moslem. Saleem, supposedly studying engineering, has secretly enrolled on an art course, while Tariq rebels openly with his style of dress and friends. The eldest still at home, Abdul, goes for the quiet life.
Ella is the buffer between George and the children, quite literally when George hits out in frustration at his family’s unwillingness to embrace tradition. Finally, there is Auntie Annie, Ella’s friend who supports her and smokes endless fags with her.
The first half revolves around the comedy of poor Sajit, who has not being circumcised, but there are rumblings of something more catastrophic to come - the subject of the second half, where George plans to marry the two eldest sons to the daughters of the richer Mr Shah. This brings about the best scene in the play when Ella turns on the pompous Mr Shah and tells him how it is, earning her a well-deserved ovation from the audience. Then Saleem comes home with his explicit artwork.
This joyous, funny and moving slice of life played out on an ingenious set that draws together the different locations from the sitting room to the chip shop to the street outside, has the whole cast giving the performances of their lives.
Saleem: John Afzal
Abdul: Damian Asher
Ella: Janys Chambers
Sajit: Adam Deacon
Tariq: Davood Ghadami
Meenah: Rokhsaney Ghawam-Shahidi
George: Marc Anwar
Maneer: Chris Nayak
Auntie Annie: Sarah Parks
Dr/Mr Shah: Aftab Sachak
Director: Damian Cruden
Designer: Laura McEwen
Lighting: Ciaran Bagnall
Composer: Ivan Stott
Fight director: Philip d’Orleans
2006-03-30 14:34:31