Site-Specific Play Behna Comes to London Kitchen

Sonia Likhari’s site-specific play Behna (Sisters) receives its London premiere in the kitchen of a west London home tomorrow (28 April 2011).

Billed as a “unique and intimate piece of theatre”, Behna centres on two generations of sisters in the Cheema household, who struggle with private jealousies and family secrets in the midst of public weddings, births and separations.

The audience is invited to join the celebrations and then eavesdrop into the relationships of a typical Punjabi family in a very real “kitchen sink drama”.

Director Janet Steel said: “This wonderfully engaging and moving play is set in a kitchen so we decided to perform it in one. There is something very intimate and special about sitting in a real kitchen and watching these moments of real life drama play out in front of you.”

Behna was first performed in the kitchen of a house in Birmingham, as part of Birmingham Repertory Theatre’s Spring 2010 season. As part of the London run, the show can also be booked and performed privately in homes.

The play features a cast of five: Sandeep Garcha (Mum); Shaleen Hudda (Dal); Hema Mangoo (Simi); Gurpreet Singh (Jag) and Balvinder Sopal (Masi ji). It runs until 20 May 2011, with the full address and information on how to get there only being revealed to ticket-holders.