Octagon Theatre Bolton, Citizens Theatre and Wiltshire Creative, in association with Derby Theatre, are proud to present modern classic East is East by Ayub Khan Din, directed by Kash Arshad.

Stage and screen actor Bhasker Patel (Oedipus, Broadway & West End; Emmerdale, ITV) leads a stellar cast as the patriarchal George alongside Samantha Power (Brassic, Sky; Madame Blanc, Channel 5) as his wife Ella.

Exploring identity, generational conflict and the unbreakable bonds of family, the cast of this razor-sharp comedy also includes Zaki Ali (Good Ship Murder, Channel 5; First Days Gala, National Youth Theatre), Victoria Brazier (The Memory of Water, Octgaon Theatre; The Snow Queen, Dukes Lancaster), Sushil Chudasama (No Such Thing as Ordinary, Royal Exchange; Number One Fan, Channel 5), Maya Dhokia (The Jungle Book, Theatre by the Lake; Gorgon, Short Film), Zoe Iqbal (Odd Squad, CBBC; Erotic Novel Gone Wrong, JB Shorts), Matthew Khan (Waterloo Road, BBC; Hamlet, Gatehouse Theatre), Joeravar Sangha (All’s Well That Ends Well, Royal Shakespeare Company; East is East, National Theatre), Rahul Sidhu (Try Running Now, Short Film; The Buckingham Murders, Feature Film) and Danyal Ismail (Virdee, BBC; Ridley, ITV).

Completing the cast is Rohan Macleod who steps from his part-time job at the Octagon’s Kitchen and Bar onto the main stage of the theatre to take on the role of Sajit Khan.

In early 1970s Salford, the Khan family are living above a chip shop and on the fault line between two cultures. George Khan is determined to raise the family to follow his Pakistani way. His English wife, Ella, just wants to keep the peace. Meanwhile their seven children are busy discovering disco, denim, and defiance.

When George begins arranging marriages for his sons, rebellion erupts and loyalties are tested. What follows is a hilarious and deeply moving battle between tradition and change.

East Is East opens at Octagon Theatre, Bolton on 4 September before touring to Citizens Theatre, Derby Theatre. It will run at Salisbury Playhouse from 3 – 14 November.

Bhasker Patel as George Khan

Samantha Power as Ella Khan

Theatre includes: No Pay? No Way!, Wuthering Heights, and Zack (Royal Exchange Theatre); Rock, Paper, Scissors, and Chicken Soup (Sheffield Crucible); Beryl, Accrington Pals, Coming Around Again, Me, as a Penguin, and It’s A lovely Day Tomorrow (Leeds Playhouse); Flint Street Nativity (Liverpool Playhouse); Little Malcolm and his Struggle Against the Eunuchs (Bolton Octagon); It’s a fine Bright Day Today (Oldham Coliseum); Little Britain Live (Hammersmith Apollo, UK and Australian Tour)

Television includes:Berlin Noir, Murder Is Benidorm, Good Ship Murder, Madame Blanc, Emmerdale, Bank of Dave 2, Brassic, Shakespeare & Hathaway, Whitstable Pearl, Ackley Bridge, Cold Call, Ordinary Lies, Coronation Street, Little Britain, Little Britain Abroad, A Broken Family Together, Come Fly With Me, Shameless, The Cup, Lunch Monkeys, Massive, Wolfblood, Wolfblood Secrets, All at Sea, Doctors, The 4 O’Clock Club, Holby City, Prisoner’s Wives, The Mimic, In With The Flynn’s, Starlings, Waterloo Road, Crime Stories, Moving On, Twisted Tales, New Street Law, The Royal, The Safe House, Where the Heart Is, Heartbeat, City Central, The Cops, Peak Practice, A Prince Among Men, Mash and Peas, No Bananas, It’s Adam and Shelly

Film includes: The Lowdown and Mischief Night

Radio Includes: Little Britain, Little Brexit, Charlotte Bronte in Babylon, Porcelain, The Murder Trial of Sophie Lancaster, The Odd Job

Zaki Ali as Tariq Khan

Zaki Ali is a mixed-race actor from London.

A graduate of The BRIT School and former student of the Sylvia Young Theatre School, Zaki has worked across film, television and theatre since a young age, with early screen appearances on Disney Channel. Most recently, he can be seen as Azariah in the upcoming feature film Daniel by The Kooman Brothers, alongside Mena Massoud and Elijah Alexander. His other screen credits include The Good Ship Murder (Series 4) for Channel 5. His theatre work includes Town Planning in the Apocalypse by James Graham with National Youth Theatre and Mark and the Marked by Box Clever.

East Is East marks Zaki’s major theatre debut as Tariq.

Victoria Brazier as Auntie Annie

Theatre includes:The Book Thief (Bolton Octagon); The Snow Queen, Treasure Island, Beauty and the Beast and Oliver Twist (The Dukes); Pride and Prejudice, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Merry Wives of Windsor and The Jungle Book (Storyhouse/Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre); Make Good: The Post Office Scandal (Pentabus); Miner Birds, Alice in Wonderland, The Snow Queen and The Borrowers (New Vic); We’re Not Going Back (Red Ladder); A Little Princess (Theatre By The Lake); The Song Of The Sytch (Claybody Theatre); Abigail's Party (Watford Palace); Twinkle and the Mechanical Light Machine (Oldham Theatre Workshop); The Man Without A Past (New Perspectives); Tiny Heroes (Dan Bye); Crossings (Pentabus); The Secret Garden (York Theatre Royal); Hard Times (Northern Broadsides); Hobson's Choice (Royal Exchange)

Television includes:Emmerdale, Coronation Street, Vincent, All at Sea, Doctors, Craven, Land Girls, The Street, Heading Out, Hollyoaks, and Boy A

Radio includes:Ann Veronica, The Thrill of Love, New Grub Street, Home Front, Deadheading, Sense and Sensibility, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Angel Pavement, Cottonopolis, Bell in the Ball, Writing the Century, Mr Maugham's Journey Home, The Crowded Street, Second Chances, Germinal, Dido, The River Girl and Sophie

Sushil Chudasama as Doctor/Mr Shah

Sushil trained at LAMDA over 25 years ago.

Theatre includes: A Teaspoon of Shampoo (Theatre in the Mill, Bradford); Partition (Leeds Playhouse/Royal Exchange); also performances at The Library Theatre, Home Manchester, Royal Court, The Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse Theatres, The Citizen's Theatre Glasgow, Sheffield's Crucible Theatre, and Birmingham Rep

Television includes: Number One Fan (Channel 5); Clocking Off, Blue Murder, Coronation Street, Collision, 4 o' Clock Club and Emmerdale

Sushil is also a theatre director, drama facilitator and drama coach.

Maya Dhokia as Meenah Khan

Theatre includes: Maria in Twelfth Night (Dukes Lancaster/Hope Mill Theatre/Civic Heywood/Lawrence Batley Theatre), Carly in Unit H6 for Vignettes (HER Productions), Arbah/Karen/Precious in Life in a Northern Town (Northern Broadsides - Workshop), Mowgli in The Jungle Book (Theatre by the Lake), Amy in Surety of Numbers – Remix (Box of Tricks)

Television and film includes: Isla in Gorgon (TownKid Productions)

Zoe Iqbal as off-stage female swing

Zoe is a writer/performer from Manchester. She has recently been understudy and onstage swing for ‘Planet Omar’ which went up at The Unicorn Theatre, Leeds Playhouse and Birmingham Rep.

Further credits include: playing Aunti Ji, the evil queen in the Muslim Pantos production of Snow Brown; Louise in Road (Oldham Coliseum); Janice the happy clown In Odd Squad, Miss Pearce in So Awkward, Rosie in The Dumping Ground (CBBC)

She has been commissioned to write her first short film by Rope Ladder fiction. Zoe enjoys gardening and browsing charity shops.

Danyal Ismail as Abdul Khan

Danyal trained at the Drama Centre London and can currently be seen in VIRDEE (BBC), Ridley (ITV) and in a featured role opposite Saoirse Ronan in The Outrun (Arcade Pictures/Brock Media). Further credits include All the Lights are Still Burning (BFI), McDonald and Dodds, and Vera (ITV)

Matthew Khan as Saleem Khan

Matthew trained on the BA Acting course at LIPA, graduating in 2020.

Stage credits include: Hamlet (Stafford Gatehouse); Mojo (Red Brick Theatre); Long Strong Hair (Bolton Theatre Octagon); The Last Quiz Night on Earth and Priestess (Box of Tricks)

Screen credits include: series regular Jared Jones in Waterloo Road (BBC); A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (Netflix & BBC); Brassic (Sky); and Doctors (BBC)

Radio credits include:Undercover: Make It Count (BBC Radio 4).

One of Matthew's first auditions out of drama school was for East Is East, for the role of Sajit. Now looking (a fair bit!) older, he's excited to bring all the fun and sensitivity of Saleem to life and to help create this brilliant ensemble play.

Rohan Macleod as Sajit Khan

Rohan is a Bolton-born actor with experience across stage and screen. His television credits include Coronation Street (ITV) and The Listeners (BBC). Rohan previously appeared in East Is East at the Octagon Theatre in 2018 and is excited to be returning to this incredible play.

Joeravar Sangha as Maneer Khan

Wolverhampton-born actor Joeravar Sangha graduated from St Mary’s University, Twickenham in 2016. Upon graduating he has worked across Film and TV.

Theatre includes:Billionaire Boy (BSC); East is East (National Theatre); Richard III and All's Well That Ends Well (RSC)

Television includes:Doctors (BBC) and Professor T (ITV).

He has also recently been commissioned to write a large scale South Asian play by the National Theatre of Scotland.

Joeravar Sangha as off-stage male swing

Actor/singer Rahul has credits including The Buckingham Murders (Netflix); How to be a Person (BAFTA winner); Hotel (Jim Cartwright); a number of commercials and more.