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Theatre Reviews

REVIEW: East is East, Birmingham Rep 2021

Birmingham Rep run from 3 – 25 September 2021 

Press Night: 10 September 2021

Pictures: Pamela Raith Photography

Reopens the National Theatre’s Lyttelton Theatre: 7 – 30 October 2021

My first theatre trip outside of London in 2021 was the 25th anniversary of Ayub Din Khan ‘s East is East. As someone who was only two years old when the original play was put on at the Rep (yes, the movie did indeed come three years later!) I was honoured to be invited to take a look at the cast of an iconic play-made-into-a-BAFTA-winning-film at the Birmingham Rep Theatre on Friday 10 September 2021.

The story, for those of you who aren’t au fait with the iconic British film – which starred the late Om Puri, and Linda Bassett – is as follows:

George Khan and Ella Khan live in Salford in 1971 with their six children; Abdul (23), Tariq (21), Maneer (19), Saleem (18), Meenah (16) and Sajit (12), and run a fish and chip shop. George is from Pakistan, and still has family, including a wife, in Azad Kashmir in West Pakistan, whilst Ella is from England. George wants his children to be raised Muslim and in the proper Pakistani way, but the kids have other ideas…It’s up to Ella, with the help of her good friend Auntie Annie, to try and keep everybody happy.

(Amy-Leigh Hickman as Meenah Khan, Gurjeet Singh as Tariq Khan, Joeravar Sangha as Maneer Khan and Adonis Jenieco as Saleem Khan)

The Rep has quite a large proscenium-arch stage and at times the set changes to depict the home of Ella and George Khan and also the chip shop where the Khans work. The set depicts the north of England with red bricks lined up, and screens with black and white footage of Salford in the 70s. Footage of rain depicted the change of scene brilliantly. I enjoyed the transition as we saw the back door where Sajit, the youngest son, escapes the domestic home when in need of some alone time, turn and become the inside of the chip shop. The performance shows the frank and open conversations that are had out of earshot of the siblings’ father, when the siblings are all together. They face their own ordeals – in Saleem’s case, the fact he’s studying art instead of engineering at college. I felt moved and invested in the way the character’s journey towards a plot line makes you root for each and every one of them (including Nazeer, the son who chose to break away from the nuclear family).
(Tony Jayawardena as George Khan)

The way the family tensions increase as the show progresses provides such entertaining scenes, one particular highlight was in the second act with Mr. Shah (played by Irvine Iqbal) bringing the Khan family portraits of the daughters to offer as potential brides. This scene had the audience in fits of giggles (many of whom, were waiting for the most famous line “Mum, Dad, the P***s are here!”). There is an outstanding monologue by George (Tony Jayawardena) of the ills faced by a minoritised community in the 70s. A scene in the second act with Sajit did occur to me as being a little harsh of the treatment of the youngest, but this was again the portrayal of the sibling dynamic which was really amplified. I felt it expressed all the rage of angsty teenagers. The comedic timing in the show from the entire case was consistent, as was their stage presence.  The only issue was with sound, as some of the Khan sons were a little difficult to hear at times.

(Sophie Stanton as Ella Khan and Tony Jayawardena as George Khan)
All in all, I can’t recommend this show enough as it returns for its 25th anniversary and before it takes to the National Theatre stage reopening the Lyttleton theatre in London. I was entertained, taken back to my youth having lived up north in nearby Lancashire while utterly enjoying a joyous night at the theatre.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

@hamzajahanzeb

www.hamzajahanzeb.co.uk

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