East Is East

The play that gave birth to the smash-hit film – a wonderful comedy about growing up in multiracial Salford.

The six Khan children, entangled in arranged marriages and bell-bottoms, are trying to find their way growing up in 1970s Salford. They are all caught between their Pakistani father’s insistence on Asian traditions, their English mother’s laissez-faire attitude, and their own wish to become citizens of the modern world.

Ayub Khan Din’s play East is East was first performed at Birmingham Repertory Studio Theatre in October 1996 in a co-production by Tamasha Theatre Company, the Royal Court Theatre Company and Birmingham Repertory Company, before transferring to the Royal Court, London. It was later adapted into a feature film, with a screenplay by the author, that became one of the most successful British films ever made.

East is Eastwon the John Whiting Award in 1996 and was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in 1998.

East is East was revived in the West End in 2014 and celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2021 with a production at the Birmingham Rep and then at the National Theatre, London.

The play is also available in the volume Ayub Khan Din Plays: One.