Octagon Theatre Bolton, Citizens Theatre and Wiltshire Creative in
association with Derby Theatre

East is East

The Octagon Theatre, Bolton
Friday 4 September – Saturday 3 October
Press night: Tuesday 8 September, 7.30pm

Derby Theatre
Tuesday 20 – Saturday 24 October 2026
Press night: Tue 20 October, 7:30pm

NEW ANNIVERSARY PRODUCTION OF EAST IS EAST ANNOUNCED
FOR THIS AUTUMN, AT VENUES ACROSS THE UK

• A thirtieth anniversary production of Ayub Din Khan’s award-winning play will be
  appearing on stages across the UK
• The classic story of a British-Pakistani family in 1970s Salford caught between traditions
  and modern life will be directed by Kash Arshad
• The Show is coproduced by Octagon Theatre Bolton, Citizens Theatre and Wiltshire
  Creative in association with Derby Theatre
  
• Tickets are now on sale for a new production Ayub Din Khan’s award-winning play East is
  East.
• Opening at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton on Friday 4 September 2026, this new production
  will be directed by Kash Arshad. The show will then travel to Derby Theatre Tuesday 20 –
  Saturday 24 October 2026, as well as Citizen’s Theatre, Glasgow, before finishing its current
  tour at Wiltshire Creative’s Salisbury Playhouse in early November.
  
• East is East was first staged in Birmingham in 1996 by the Tamasha Theatre Company in co
  production with the Royal Court and Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Ayub Khan Din’s
  modern classic blends razor-sharp comedy with moments of shocking honesty, in a story
  about identity, generational conflict, and the messy, unbreakable bonds of family.
  
• In early 1970s Salford, the Khan family are living above a chip shop and on the fault line
  between two cultures. George Khan is determined to raise the family to follow his Pakistani
  way. His English wife, Ella, just wants to keep the peace. Meanwhile their seven children are
  busy discovering disco, denim, and defiance. When George begins arranging marriages for
  his sons, rebellion erupts and loyalties are tested. What follows is a hilarious and deeply
  moving battle between tradition and change.
  
• Kash Arshad is a Scottish/Pakistani director and theatre maker based in Yorkshire and
  trained on the National Theatre Studio Directors Course 2019.

He was Associate Director
  at Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough from 2021 – 2023 and Trainee Artistic Director at
  Freedom Studios from 2017 – 2019.

In 2021, his original production of 10 Nights by Shahid
  Iqbal Khan at the Bush Theatre was nominated for an Olivier Award in the category of
  Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre

He is an Associate Artist of National Youth
  Theatre and Associate Director for National Theatre Connections.
Kash is also currently
  Youth Theatre Director for Northern Broadsides Youth Theatre. 

  
• Ayub Khan Din grew up in Salford. After leaving school he worked briefly as a hairdresser
  before enrolling in drama school, where he wrote his first stage play, East is East (1997), for
  Tamasha Theatre Company. It was first staged at the Royal Court Theatre in London and was
  subsequently adapted by Ayub into a highly successful feature film. West is West, a sequel
  film, was released in 2010. Both play and film have won numerous awards including EVENING STANDARD Best Film
  Award, the WRITERS’ GUILD Award for Best New Writer, Best West End Play and the JOHN
  WHITING Award for Best Stage Play.
  
• Other plays include All the Way Home, produced at the Lowry Theatre, Salford and Rafta
  Rafta, an adaptation of Bill Naughton’s 1960s story All in Good Time, which was first
  produced at the National Theatre, London and then by the New Group in New York. Rafta
  Rafta won a Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. Ayub’s screen adaptation of All in
  Good Time was released as a feature film. Ayub wrote The Edelweiss Pirates for the
  Connections Festival at the National Theatre. Recent works also include the musical play
  Bunty Berman Presents, which opened in New York, and To Sir, With Love, an adaptation of
  E.R. Braithwaite’s novel, which opened at the Royal Derngate, Northampton before a
  national tour. His television series Ackley Bridge, produced by The Forge, was first broadcast
  on Channel 4 in 2017 and ran for 5 seasons.
  Kash Arshad (Director of East is East):
  
• “East is East is my story. There are not many plays that speak to the experience of being
  brought up in a Muslim household, with a white British mother and a Pakistani father, who
  ran his own business, with kids who felt not British enough to be British nor Pakistani enough
  to be Pakistani. To get the opportunity to direct this play at the theatre where I started my
  directing journey and to be able to share it with audiences in Salisbury, Derby and the
  Citizens in Glasgow, my local theatre in my late teens/early twenties and where I first set foot
  on a professional stage, is a dream.
  
• The play is a modern classic, with brilliantly observed, memorable characters. And at its
  heart a strong matriarch in Ella holding this family of misfits together – She reminds me so
  much of my own mum. It’s raucous, moving, full of truth and really funny.”
  
• For more information and EAST IS EAST updates, visit the Derby Theatre website here: East
  is East – Derby Theatre or follow us on social media (Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok and
  YouTube – @derbytheatre).
  Accessible performances
  Derby Theatre
  BSL interpreted performance (A Signed performance is the usual full production with the
  addition of a British Sign Language Interpreter who stands on the stage interpreting the
  show): Thursday 22 October 2026, 19:30
  Advisories
  Age guidance: 14+. Contains themes of racism and domestic violence and strong language.
  On sale, tickets and how to book
  Derby Theatre
  £22.50 – £36
  Group, under 26s and school rates available.
  Book online at East is East – Derby Theatre or Box Office on 01332 593939