East is East at the Octagon is a five star show!
Review by Steve Cooke
The Octagon’s 30th anniversary production of East is East, Ayub Khan Din’s thoughtful comedy of life in a Pakistani/English family in early 1970s Salford is an engaging homage to this modern classic.
It works extremely well in the Octagon’s intimate space with Rachana Jadhav’s big, impressive set spreading across about a third of the auditorium.
The three main acting areas encompass a central one that transforms from the Khan family’s kitchen to their business - a fish and chip shop, and briefly to their front parlour; another to represent their back yard, complete with the “shed” that bundle of nervous energy, youngster Sajit retreats to and “sunbathes” on top of in his protective but rather smelly parka. and another, representing the base of a factory chimney, with a balustrade where the brothers can be together, away from mum and dad.
The transformations are done entertainingly by the cast with music and dancing, Jane Lalljee’s lighting very effectively enhancing changes of locale.
Director Kash Arshad summarises the plot as being “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.”
Overbearing with self-importance dad George Khan is trying to rule his family for what he believes is the best according to religion and tradition. The breaking point comes when he attempts to make arranged marriages for two of his sons who see the world in very different ways.
Bhasker Patel skilfully portrays George as a complex character who can be comic, baffled, frustrated and violent.
On Press Night Ella [Samantha Power] received spontaneous applause when after being hit and humiliated by her husband feistily sees off the hyper-critical, self-important Mr Shah, father of the prospective brides. She convincingly portrays a northern working class woman holding everything together against all the odds.
Also creating very believable characters are Victoria Brazier as Auntie Annie, Danyal Ismail as Abdul, Zaki Ali as Tariq, Joeravar Sangha as Maneer, and Matthew Khan as Saleem, the four very different brothers, the hyper-energetic Maya Dhokia’s Meenah as the daughter with Rohan Macleod making the neurodiverse Sajit fascinatingly watchable.
It was good the see Chris Bisson, who played Saleem Khan in the much loved 1999 film version, in the audience thoroughly enjoying the performance.
East is East is a period piece reflecting fifty year old attitudes and behaviours but also predicating the very different paths the lives of young people from Pakistani decent were to take.
If you want to experience live theatre at its very best, then I can’t recommend East is East at the Octagon Bolton highly enough.
Tickets from £15, visit https://octagonbolton.co.uk/events/east-is-east
Age 14+
On until Saturday 3 October at 7.30pm with some 2.0pm matinees, Octagon Theatre, Octagon Court, Howell Croft S, Bolton BL1 1UR ·
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