Finishing a critically-acclaimed UK tour, a 30th-anniversary revival of Ayub Khan Din’s modern classic East is East comes to the Salisbury Playhouse stage from 3 – 14 November.

A Wiltshire Creative co-production with Octagon Theatre Bolton and Citizens Theatre in association with Derby Theatre, East is East is directed by Kash Arshad.

Ayub Khan-Din’s modern classic blends razor-sharp comedy with moments of shocking honesty. East Is East is a story about identity, generational conflict, and the messy, unbreakable bonds of family. 

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.

Kash Arshad directs a stellar cast:

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

The cast 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 taking on the role of Sajit Khan.

Director Kash Arshad said: “East is East is my story. There are not many plays that speak to the experience of being brought up in a Muslim household, with a white British mother and a Pakistani father, who ran his own business, with kids who felt not British enough to be British nor Pakistani enough to be Pakistani. To get the opportunity to direct this play at the theatre where I started my directing journey and to be able to share it with audiences in Salisbury, Derby and the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, is a dream.

The play is a modern classic, with brilliantly observed, memorable characters. And at its heart a strong matriarch in Ella holding this family of misfits together - she reminds me so much of my own mum. It's raucous, moving, full of truth and really funny.”