Thirty years ago a play opened at Birmingham Rep that might have been expected to have limited appeal. East Is East, the story of a mixed-race family from the north of England surviving 1970s Britain as the father tries to marry off two of his sons, was then turned into a film. It crossed cultures and became a Bafta-winning box-office hit, following the success of Ayub Khan Din’s play.
Bolton Octagon, 10 miles down the road from the story’s setting of Salford, celebrates the anniversary with a new production directed by Kash Arshad. In Arshad’s hands the script’s comedy is mined and brought to life by an exceptional cast, with Samantha Power as Ella, the matriarch of the Khan family, giving an award-worthy performance. East Is East is an important piece of work for people such as myself, Arshad and much of the cast playing Khan’s children.
The language of the play describes us as “half-caste”; I tend to use mixed-race and some of the cast prefer dual heritage. Whatever the preferred term, the play captures the nuance of growing up between cultures. Eating bacon while throwing around curry powder to cover the smell, laughing at racist jokes where people who look like your family are the punchline – these are moments recognisable to mixed-race families.
Khan Din’s cleverness was to capture the subtleties of having a white mum and a brown dad and, in that specificity, find universal appeal. The tyrannical patriarch of the family, George, is played by Bhasker Patel. He lacks the gravitas and intimidating physique of Om Puri, who took the role in the film, and the production is better for it.
Here is someone who feels ignored and, with his smaller frame, when he explodes it is the lashing out of a man who cannot bend the world to his will. He has a softness with his children, who all create distinct personalities, Maya Dhokia particularly good as the family’s sole daughter. When the children discuss whether or not they are English, the echoes of balaclava-wearing men in Dover might be heard by some in the auditorium.
A surprisingly funny and relevant piece of work, three decades on.
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