Bhasker Patel leads stellar cast in thirtieth anniversary production of East Is East

The cast has been announced for East Is East at Octagon Theatre Bolton this autumn.

Fresh from Broadway and making a welcome return to the Octagon, is stage and screen actor Bhasker Patel (Oedipus, Broadway & West End; Emmerdale ITV) who leads a stellar cast as the patriarchal George alongside Stockport-born actor Samantha Power (Brassic, Sky; Madame Blanc, Channel 5). The Octagon is pleased to welcome back Victoria Brazier who performed in The Memory of Water in February of 2026.

They will be joined by Zaki Ali, Sushil Chudasama, Maya Dhokia, Zoe Iqbal, Matthew Khan, Joeravar Sangha, Rahul Sidhu and Danyal Ismail. Completing the cast, is Rohan Macleod who steps from his part-time job at the Octagon’s Kitchen & Bar onto the mainstage of the theatre to take on the role of Sajit Khan. He last appeared on the Octagon’s stage in 2017.

Set in Salford this iconic story of a British-Pakistani family was first staged in Birmingham in 1996. Now thirty years on Ayub Khan Din’s East Is East returns to its northern roots for an anniversary production directed by Kash Arshad.

The show is a co-production with the Octagon Theatre Bolton, Citizens Theatre and Wiltshire Creative co-production, in association with Derby Theatre, at those theatres after opening in Bolton in early September.

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.

Director Kash Arshad said:

“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 Citiz 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.”

East Is East plays at the Octagon Theatre Bolton Fri 4 Sep – Sat 3 Oct. Tickets are available here.