Review: East is East, Citizens Theatre, Glasgow. 30th anniversary tour with Bolton Octagon Theatre
Ayub Khan Din's East is East plays the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow as part of its 30th anniversary tour. The revival is a co-production between the Citz, Octagon Theatre Bolton and Wiltshire Creative. Read my review here.
East is East (30th anniversary tour) ★★★⯪☆
Review: 07 October 2026 | Citizens Theatre, Glasgow
Ayub Khan Din's hit play East is East has been revived thirty years after its 1996 premiere for a new tour in a co-production between the Octagon Theatre, Bolton, the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow and Wiltshire Creative.
Set in 1971 in Salford, North West England, East is East introduces us to George Khan (Bhasker Patel), a traditional Pakistani man living with his white English wife, Ella (Samantha Power) and six of their seven children. The working-class Khan family run a successful fish and chip shop together. As the children grow into adults, they are pulled between the traditional values of their dad's strict Pakistani heritage and the English culture they have been born into.
The new production of Din's semi-autobiographical comedy drama begins as dad George has arranged marriages for sons Abdul (Danyal Ismail) and Tariq (Zaki Ali), denim-clad Saleem (Matthew Khan) is studying art at college - not engineering, as his dad believes; and Maneer (Joeravar Sangha), who genuinely respects his dad's Muslim traditions and is the only one of the brothers who doesn't sneak out to nightclubs or chase girls, is nicknamed 'Ghanhi' by his siblings. Only daughter Meenah (Maaya Dhokia) is full of energy, defiant, rebellious, and her skirt is too short; and youngest son Sajit (Rohan Macleod) hides inside his stinky parka all day.
Directed by Kash Arshad - who returns to the Citizens Theatre where he first started his career on stage - East is East is a slice-of-life drama that offers a vivid snapshot into one multicultural family's lives during the 1970s. And although some small conflicts are resolved within the 150-minute runtime, there is no real plot-driven narrative. The play concludes without offering any neat resolutions, leaving the ultimate fates of the characters entirely up in the air.
The entertainment and drama come from observing the family dynamics as their relationships are pushed to breaking point thanks to the generation and culture clash. Mum Ella becomes the narrative linchpin as she is torn between her love for her husband and her children's future and happiness. At the heart of the play, Samantha Power delivers a beautiful, rich, multi-layered performance that expertly balances vulnerability with a quiet strength.
Still relevant, still funny
Although written in the 90s and set in the 70s, the central themes of East is East are still relevant today. The mixed-race Khan family children are not accepted as English by their classmates or neighbours, but they also don't feel Pakistani and actively rebel against their dad's traditions.
Din's sharp script portrays family life in 1970s northern England honestly and starkly. The play is full of perceptive humour as well as some glorious one-liners and iconic scenes that made it into the 1999 BAFTA award-winning film. But it doesn't shy away from the hardship faced by the British-Asian family in terms of poverty, racism, or domestic abuse. There are trigger warnings aplenty within the show programme and dotted around the walls of the theatre advising that this play is set in the 70s and thus comes with 1970s language and attitudes.
Rachana Jadhav's creative design firmly roots the action in the 70s with its garish patterns and colours. The versatile set transforms from a 70s living room to a chip shop and then a hospital, with smooth and swift ease. The costumes too are well considered, easily establishing which of the children favour traditional over Western clothes.
Sajit's parka is one of the enduring images from the hit film, and in Arshad's new stage production of East is East Rohan Macleod inhabits the skin of the twitching, socially awkward youngest Khan in an outstanding, authentic performance. Even when Sajit has little to say for himself, Macleod's nuanced, subtle gestures and movements leave us with no doubt that this is an anxious, traumatised child before us.
There are a few moments when the pace of the play slows unnecessarily, and Act I closes on such an anticlimactic, peculiar line that it almost feels as if the action stopped mid-scene. But that aside, the 30th anniversary production of East is East offers a joyous, funny, chaotic slice of northern family life performed by an excellent ensemble cast. ★★★⯪☆
East is East is at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow until 17 October 2026
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