Rafta, Rafta...

Synopsis

Based on All in Good Time by Bill Naughton. LATA: You can’t joke about these things. It’ll bring bad luck. Terrible tragedies occur when brides tempt the wrath of the gods. VINA: Maybe in Bollywood, mum, not in Oldham. The wedding feast is over and his father’s dancing the bhangra, but the groom himself is busy on the net. and when it’s time for bed, he’s so woefully inhibited by the proximity of his parents, let alone his brother’s childish pranks, that his beautiful virgin bride remains just that. six weeks later, the whole family start to panic. A hugely warm-hearted, comic tale of close-knit Indian family life in England by the author of East is East, Ayub Khan-Din.

Our Review:

27 April 2007

“Rafta, rafta” is the Hindi for “slowly, slowly,” suggesting that married love is something that grows and deepens with the years. It is a good translation for the title of Bill Naughton’s All in Good Time, the 1963 northern domestic comedy on which Ayub Khan-Din has based his exuberant and highly enjoyable new play.

It is over ten years since Khan-Din produced East Is East as a collaboration between Tamasha, the Royal Court and the Birmingham Rep, so Nicholas Hytner’s production is a welcome boost to the cause of British Asian comedy. The outline is the same as in Naughton: a young married couple have trouble consummating their union in the crowded terraced house belonging to the groom’s parents. Their bed collapses. “If there’s anything you need,” suggests Dad most unhelpfully, “just tap on the wall.”

Tim Hatley’s design, a two-tiered, opened-out doll’s house arrangement of kitchen, living room and two upper bedrooms, is revealed behind a photograph...

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Latest User Review

David Baxter - 9 August 2007:

I'm not sure if Rafta, Rafta is a new play or a revival but it will need to be decided for awards season because it is one of the most enetrtaining plays I have seen for ages. Ayub Khan-Din's adaptation for a British-Asian family works brilliantly, helped by a superb design (the set was applauded!) and some wonderful performances. Harish Patel is uproariously funny and it is a long time since I laughed out loud so often, Arguably, Meera Syal is even better, particularly the way she conveys a range of emotions in a couple of seconds without needing to say a word. Although this is a frequently hysterical comedy it creates a genuine empathy with the characters and there were gasps of sympathy and stifled sobs at the end. Amidst a plethora of new work and worthy revivals it is good to see the National can still provide theatre which is heart-warming and gloriously entertaining....

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