Art Malik cast in The Village at Theatre Royal Stratford East

Casting has been announced for the upcoming production of The Village at Theatre Royal Stratford East.

Directed by Nadia Fall, the show will star Anya Chalotra as Jyoti and Art Malik as The Inspector. They are joined by Harki Bhambra, Sudha Bhuchar, Ameet Chana, Neil D'Souza, Souad Faress, Rina Fatania, Naeem Hayat, Scott Karim, Arian Nik, Humera Syed and Ragevan Vasan.

April de Angelis has written a new adaptation of de Vega's play, which was performed previously by Stratford East's Joan Littlewood and the Theatre Workshop in 1955.

The piece tells the story of Jyoti, who enjoys village life. But when The Inspector arrives in town with his men, he sets his sights on Jyoti whilst terrorising the community.

Fall said: "The Village looks at the true cost of populism, how behind a smiling facade the manipulation and oppression of everyday people is taking place the world over. But there is a line when enough is enough, and what I love about this story is that it's a young woman, an Indian village girl, a so called nobody, that cries out against the brutality and leads the uprising."

The show marks the first in Fall's inaugural season as artistic director of the theatre.