East Is East cast announced for Birmingham Rep and National Theatre

Casting has been announced for the 25th anniversary production of East Is East.

The classic comic family drama of the British-Asian experience will play at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in September before transferring to National Theatre in London.

The cast will feature Amy-Leigh Hickman as Meenah; Irvine Iqbal as Mr Shah/Dr; Tony Jayawardena as George; Adonis Jenieco as Saleem; Rachel Lumberg as Annie; Noah Manzoor as Sajit; Joeravar Sangha as Maneer; Gurjeet Singh as Tariq; Sophie Stanton as Ella and Assad Zaman as Abdul.

The creative team features director Iqbal Khan with Bretta Gerecke (Set, Projection and Lighting Design), Susan Kulkarni (Costume Design), Felix Dubs (Composer), Jon Nicholls (Sound Design), Stuart Burt CDG (Casting), Natasha Kathi-Chandra (Associate Director) and Max White (Video Associate).

East Is East runs 3 to 25 September at Birmingham Rep and 7 to 30 October at National’s Lyttelton Theatre.

George Khan wants to raise his family the proper Pakistani way but hasn’t counted on the distractions of 70s Salford. Abdul and Tariq aren’t ready to be married off, Saleem is pushing artistic boundaries, Meenah’s skirt is too short and Sajit just wants to hide in his parka. Can mum Ella keep the family together?

Written by Ayub Khan Din, East Is East premiered at Birmingham Rep in 1996 and has since had three sold out runs in London as well as a BAFTA-award winning film adaptation.

About the author: Rachel Wise

UK based freelancer journalist Rachel contributes regularly to Stageberry with features and interviews from the hottest new shows and stage stars.