East Is East (tour)

NOTE: The following review dates from September 2005 and an earlier tour stop for this production.

Damian Cruden’s new production of East Is East for Pilot Theatre is strong on sense of period. Though dealing with the problems of Muslims in Britain, the play’s territory is not the current Islamophobia and fears of terrorism, but the generation gap within a mixed-race family in Salford in 1970: hard-line Pakistani father, six children aged 12 to 23 who are westernised to a greater or lesser degree and English mother caught in the cross-fire.

In a staging that switches easily from expressionism to naturalism and back again, the 1970s are ever-present. Laura McEwen’s design is dominated by a patterned gauze in a tilted frame through which, at the outset, the six young Khans proclaim what the decade means to them. Scene shifts (mainly involving a vertiginous staircase and basic furniture) are carried out with some style by the cast to the accompaniment of a clever sound-track of 70s hits and Ivan Stott’s original music: Mungojerrie meets the sitar.

News broadcasts of the India/Pakistan conflict emphasise one of George Khan’s two obsessions, the other being disciplining his unruly family. The strongest plot-line is the story of the marriages arranged by George for the two eldest sons, Abdul and Tariq, without their consent or knowledge. However, like Hobson’s Choice and Spring and Port Wine, classics of the same region but a different community, the real plot is the generational power struggle and the key moment is when the thoughtful and acquiescent Abdul decides that ‘things are gonna be different round here’.

Throughout, the comedy is handled with vigour and imagination and the characters are extremely well defined, with the four older brothers, of similar ages, precisely distinguished without even approaching caricature. The characters of the feisty, not quite rebellious daughter and the down-to-earth family friend with a degree in tactlessness are drawn with equal sharpness by Rokhsaneh Ghawam-Shahidi and Sarah Parks.

However, in an excellent ensemble production, entertaining and thought-provoking, the parents carry less conviction. It’s not easy to place the accent of Janys Chambers’ Ella and her performance is more robust than nuanced. With George, the rather awkward performance of late replacement Marc Anwar exposes what may be a weakness in Ayub Khan-Din’s generally sure-footed text. The cultural and generational debate seems skewed when George goes beyond conniving to repeated violence and can offer no justification beyond bursting into tears – would the reasons for his oppressive conduct be better articulated in a more fluent performance?

– Ron Simpson (reviewed at York Theatre Royal)