Theatre and Dance Previews

In Rafta Rafta, the wedding feast is over and father is dancing the bhangra, but the groom is busy on the net! And when it’s time for bed, he’s so inhibited by his parents being in the same house, that his beautiful virgin bride remains just that!

Six weeks later, the whole family are panicking!

Ayub-Khan-Din has transposed Bill Naughton’s 1960's classic 'All In Good Time' to a Hindu family in Britain and it works brilliantly well.

Rafta Rafta means Slowly Slowly in Hindi and comes from a song which, in translation, begins 'Slowly, Slowly, All in Good Time' and this refers to the fact that the anxious newlyweds have a lot to contend with as they start married life - which doesn't help their bedroom difficulties!

As soon as the set turns round to bring the inside of a full house into view, you know that this is going to be something rather good. And so it is! The hilarity and sadness of their situation perfectly combine to portray a very real but warm-hearted tale centred on an Indian family living in England.

But even if you are not Indian and may think that therefore this has no relevance to you, then think again. The issues that are thrown up are those that can take place in any family anywhere.

Pooja Ghai, who plays the groom's mother in the production, agrees that this play will ring true for many people.

"That's one of the things I loved about the play" she said.

"It's been transposed to an Asian family but I don't think it's a culturally specific play. It's universal in its themes, it's about families and it's about relationships.

"It was a story about a mining family in Bolton in the 60s and it's exactly the same story now. We've put it into a modern day Asian family and it works there, the themes are extremely universal."

It's true. The house price situation in this country often means that children are still living with their parents well into their 20s and 30s, and sometimes with partners and children as well. This can throw up all sorts of problems and this play, through some wonderfully comic moments and painful ones too, highlights many of them.

"It's the claustrophobia of that [situation] really" explained Pooja.

"It is about family relationships. The young bride and groom are in this house and there are difficulties between the father and son's relationship. The father jokes a lot with the son but humiliates him and doesn't realise how much he really hurts him. So, the son doesn't have the kind of relationship with his father that he wants and on top of that is fighting to be a man who's got sexual power with his wife and to be sexual with her and he can't find that within himself either. This is very, very tough and the pressures just keep mounting.

"Then, both sets of parents, both the bride's and the groom's, have things that come out within their own relationships and all these mirrors and parallels come out" she added.

"A lot of things are then said because finally they get a chance to say it, because they are in a very tense situation.

"But the rhythm of the piece is one that has you laughing one minutes and then saying 'oh my God' that was tense! Or go from from uncomfortable laughter to rip-roaring belly-aching laughter - and that's quite amazing!"

Ayub Khan-Din’s previous plays include East is East, Last Dance at Dum Dum and Notes on Falling Leaves, all for the Royal Court. East is East won the Writers’ Guild Award for Best West End Play and Best New Writer. It was subsequently developed into a screenplay, winning the Evening Standard Award for Best Film.

Bollywood actor Harish Patel plays the groom’s father. He has along established career in Indian cinema, having appeared in more than 80 Bollywood films.

He played himself in the recent film Chicken Tikka Masala and has frequently appeared on stage with the Indian National Theatre. Other screen credits include The Bhudda of Suburbia, My Son The Fanatic and he was most recently seen alongside comic actor Simon Pegg in the hit film Run, Fat Boy, Run.