East Is East

It’s Salford 1971 and George Khan, owner of the local fish and chip shop is determined to bring his family up in the traditional manner. His seven children on the other hand have ideas of their own. One’s already left home to be a hairdresser, his daughter prefers playing football to wearing a sari and now 18 year old Saleem wants to study art while 12 year old Sajit is about to be transformed from a shy gawky boy into a self-confident teenager.

With one disastrous arranged marriage in the family already, George plots to bring his next two sons into line by marrying them off to the daughters of Mr Shah. When the Khan kids begin to oppose their father’s blundering attempts to control their lives, his English wife Ella is forced to make a choice between her husband and the right of her children to make their own ways in the world.

Caught between the bell-bottoms and shalwar kameez East Is East is a hugely warm-hearted and hilarious story of what happens when two cultures clash within one family.

Written by Ayub Khan-Din East Is East received its world premiere at The REP in 1996, where it became an instant hit and was subsequently made into a BAFTA award-winning film.