Pauline McLynn (Father Ted, Shameless, EastEnders) will play Ella Khan in Ayub Khan Din’s critically-acclaimed play East is East, which was part of Jamie Lloyd’s second Trafalgar Transformed season, directed by Sam Yates, on a 16 week National Tour from 11 June 2015, commencing at Theatre Royal, Brighton. East is East is designed by Tom Scutt, with lighting by Richard Howell and sound and music by Alex Baranowski.
Pauline will be joined by some of the original cast from the West End production of East is East: Ashley Kumar (Tariq Khan), Darren Kuppan (Maneer Khan) and Sally Bankes (Auntie Annie). The full cast will be announced in due course.
Pauline McLynn said “I am very excited to be part of this production. The play by Ayub Khan Din is sparkling, funny and tender and I’m delighted to be working with the brilliant Sam Yates. I cannot wait to get out there with it!”
Jamie Lloyd, Artistic Director of Trafalgar Transformed, said “As a part of our drive to make our work accessible to all, I am very excited to present the first major tour of a Trafalgar Transformed production. I am thrilled that so many more people, all over the country, will get to see Sam Yates’ vivid production of this modern classic, and I’m delighted to welcome Pauline McLynn to the company.”
Pakistani chip-shop owner George Khan – “Genghis” to his kids – is determined to give his children a strict Muslim upbringing against the unforgiving backdrop of 1970s Salford. Household tension reaches breaking point as their long-suffering English mother, Ella, gets caught in the cross fire – her loyalties divided between her marriage and the free will of her children.
East is East, Ayub Khan Din’s semi-autobiographical account of British Asian life in the 1970s and the clash of cultures between a multi-cultural family growing up in Salford, is a play that continues to resonate and provoke discussion. Starring award-winning screen icon Pauline McLynn (Father Ted, Shameless and EastEnders) as Ella and a host of the finest British acting talent as the remainder of the Khan family and friends, this long awaited revival of a modern comedy classic promises to be unmissable.
Pauline McLynn (Ella Khan) is best known for screen roles including Mrs Doyle in Father Ted (for which she won a British Comedy Award), Libby Croker in Shameless and her current role playing Yvonne Cotton in EastEnders. Pauline’s stage credits include most recently The Knight of the Burning Pestle, at The Globe, Happy Days at Sheffield Crucible, Playboy of the Western World at the Donmar Warehouse, The Trojan Women, Comedy of Errors, Yerma and Antigone all at the Abbey Theatre/National Theatre of Ireland, The Double Dealer, Tartuffe, Absurd Person Singular and School for Scandal all at the Gate Theatre, Dublin and Our Country’s Good, The Tempest, Top Girls and The Caucasian Chalk Circle for Rough Magic. Her other television credits include Father Figure (BBC), Threesome (Comedy Central), The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff (BBC) Pramface (BBC), three seasons of Jam and Jerusalem (BBC), Bremner, Bird and Fortune (Channel 4, six series), High Hopes (BBC), French and Saunders (BBC), TV To Go (BBC), The Dark Ages(ITV), It Happened Last Year, Dalziel and Pascoe, Family, Aristocrats and Ballykissangel (all for BBC). Pauline’s film credits include Stephen Bradley’s Noble, Helen in Gypo, Sister Hilda opposite Brendan Blethyn in The Calling, Iris directed by Richard Eyre, Heidi directed by Paul Marcus, Angela’s Ashes directed by Alan Parker, The Most Fertile Man in Ireland directed by Dudi Appleton, An Everlasting Piece directed by Barry Levinson and When Brendan met Trudy directed by Kieron J. Walsh. Other film work includes; Quills, Nora, Her Own Rules, Guilttrip. Pauline most recently completed shooting on Jim Sheridan’s feature Secret Scripture. She has also published eight best-selling novels, Something for the Weekend (1999), Better Than A Rest (2001), Right on Time (2002), The Woman on the Bus (2004), Summer in the City (2005), Bright Lights and Promises(2007), Missing You Already (2009) and The Time Is Now (2010). In 2012 she published her first novel for young people, Jenny Q, Stitched Up! with Puffin Books, and the sequel JENNY Q, Unravelled.
Ashley Kumar’s (Tariq Khan) stage credits include East is East at Trafalgar Studios/UK Tour, Tartuffe at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Commercial Road at the Hackney Empire and The Snow Queen at the Unicorn Theatre. Ashley’s screen credits include A Nice Arrangement, Omid Djalili’s Little Cracker, Summer In Transylvania, EastEnders, Spooks, Benidorm, The Bill, Doctors and MI High.
Darren Kuppan’s (Maneer Khan) stage credits include East is East at Trafalgar Studios/UK Tour, Rafta Rafta at the Bolton Octagon and the New Vic Theatre, Stoke, the latter of which he also performed in Arabian Nights, East is East at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, An August Bank Holiday Lark at the Northern Broadsides, Melody Loses Her Mojo at the Liverpool Playhouse, England Street at the Oxford Playhouse, The Bridge at Freedom Studios, Jamaica House at Duke’s Playhouse, Lancaster, Much Ado About Nothing at the RSC, Bollywood Jane at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and Pretend You Have Big Buildings at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. Darren’s screen credits include Spooks, Britannia High, Emmerdale, Coronation Street, The Sweet Stall, Piggy, The Code, Winners And Losers and The Chaos Theory.
Sally Bankes’ (Auntie Annie) stage credits include East is East at Trafalgar Studios/UK Tour, That Day We Sang at The Royal Exchange Manchester (for which she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at The Manchester Theatre Awards), The Winter’s Tale at the RSC, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice at the Octagon Theatre, Waiting for Gateaux on a UK tour, Everybody Loves a Winner at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, and Acorn Antiques on a UK tour. Her screen credits include Our Zoo, Pompidou!, Mount Pleasant, Prisoners’ Wives, Doctors, World Without End, In With The Flynns, Titanic, Housewife 49, Hollyoaks, White Van Man, Semi-Detached, Hoof and Safety with Nuzzle and Scratch, MI High, Nuzzle and Scratch, Scallywagga, Guantanamo Phil, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Heartbeat, 2 Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, Tittybangbang!, Where the Heart Is, Little Britain, Absolute Power, Twisted Tales, Coronation Street, Fat Friends, Stabat Mater, Line of Fire, Trained, Chicken Tikka Masala (for which she won Best Actress at the OutTakes Dallas Film Festival), Redemption Road and When It All Comes Down.
East is East, was Ayub Khan Din’s first play, following an initial career as an actor. It was staged at the Royal Court in 1997 and, subsequently, Ayub adapted the play into a hugely successful feature film, starring Om Puri and Linda Bassett. For his screenplay, Ayub won a British Independent Film Award and a London Critics’ Circle Film Award, and was nominated for two BAFTAs for Best Adapted Screenplay and the Carl Foreman Award for Most Promising Newcomer, and a European Film Award for Best Screenwriter. Ayub was last seen on stage in the West End/National tour run of East is East at Trafalgar Studios as part of the Trafalgar Transformed season, playing for the first time, the role of George. Other stage credits include the title role of Bunty Berman Presents, under the wing of The New Group at the Acorn Theatre, Off-Broadway. The musical was co-authored by Ayub and Grammy and Emmy Award winner Paul Bogaev. He made his film debut in My Beautiful Laundrette, but is perhaps best known for the role of Sammy in Hanif Kureishi‘s Sammy and Rosie Get Laid – both directed by Stephen Frears. His TV credits include Coronation Street, London Bridge, The Chief, Dangerfield, Boon, The Bill and Poirot. Additional writing credits include Last Dance at Dum Dum, Notes on Falling Leaves, All the Way Home, Rafta Rafta, which won a Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy and ran at the National Theatre, West is West, All in Good Time, an adaptation of To Sir With Love, which recently completed a national tour, and Bunty Berman Presents.
General Onsale from Thursday 19 March from 10am
*Further tour venues/dates will be announced shortly
THEATRE ROYAL BRIGHTON
11 – 20 JUNE
0844 871 7650
WATERSIDE THEATRE, AYLESBURY
22 – 27 JUNE
0844 871 7607
NEW VICTORIA THEATRE, WOKING
29 JUNE – 4 JULY
0844 871 7645
CHURCHILL THEATRE, BROMLEY
6 – 11 JULY
0844 871 7620
PRINCESS THEATRE, TORQUAY
13 – 18 JULY
0844 871 3023
REGENT THEATRE, STOKE
20 – 25 JULY
0844 871 7649
THEATRE ROYAL, NOTTINGHAM
27 JULY – 1 AUGUST
0115 989 5555
GRAND OPERA HOUSE, YORK
3 – 8 AUGUST
0844 871 3024
THEATRE ROYAL, GLASGOW
10 – 15 AUGUST
0844 871 7647
THE ALHAMBRA THEATRE, BRADFORD
31 AUGUST – 5 SEPTEMBER
01274 432000
SHEFFIELD LYCEUM, SHEFFIELD
7 SEPTEMBER – 12 SEPTEMBER
0114 249 6000
BATH THEATRE ROYAL, BATH
14 SEPTEMBER – 19 SEPTEMBER
01225 448844
Website: www.trafalgartransformed.com
