Merry Mubarak – a comedy on cultural competition, comes to London this festive season.
It’s Christmas… and Eid. Join Syed and Sani for a once-in-a-generation family dinner that’s holy and halal, merry and Muslim.
What could possibly go wrong? “Join us for a very Jolly Bolly Christmas and Eid!”
TICKETS ON SALE NOW
This festive season Cineatre brings Merry Mubarak, a one of a kind comedy Christmas play by Kayser Foyz, showing at The Brady Arts Centre from Tuesday 15th December to Sunday 20th December 2026.
It’s the one morning in a lifetime when Eid and Christmas fall on the same day, and Sani (Amina Khatun) is determined to make it memorable, but her brother Syed (Afsar Ali), freshly returned from Eid Prayers, is not impressed with the presence of a turkey.
Before long, the kitchen is a battleground of rival traditions, competing Shemai’s (Eid Dessert) and one very opinionated family.
Further chaos ensues, thanks to Paris (Syeda Tasnia Tahsin), Syed’s wife and hostess extraordinaire, bringing a surprise guest Jay (Adi Roy Bhattacharya), for dinner, who arrives in a custom made asian fusion Santa outfit.
Paris hopes to match-make newly divorced Sani with Syed’s childhood friend Jay, who carries a long-standing crush on Sani, in the hopes of rekindling her own quietly fraying marriage with Syed. “Might as well go after the full trinity: Eid, Christmas and a wedding.”
Writer, Director Kayser Foyz said: “Christmas and Eid will fall on the same day in 2033 and since festivities start earlier each year, we decided to start 7 years early. Society is being divided through our differences. This story celebrates cultures coming together, albeit chaotically, told through one family as they attempt to have one dinner together without fighting. We can all agree we’ve experienced that! We’ve got a brilliant cast for this show and I’m really excited to bring a festive play with song, music and dance, while telling a story of marriage, money, murals and muses.”
Trilingual – Bollywood, Bengali and British.
Jay: “My Santa outfit is trilingual, British-Bengali-Bollywood.”
Syed: “It’s an ‘identity crisis kurta’ bro.”
Beneath the laughs, Merry Mubarak digs into the issues of our time. Paris, tired of a husband who has emotionally checked out: “Okay isn’t a way to live. Okay is a bandage that never lets the wound heal.” Sani, a single mother who’s done with relationships: “but still like the idea of love.” And Jay expressing love in the annoying way only an artist can: “comfortably uncertain… like knowing the destination, just not how to get there.”
Blending sharp comedy, Bollywood nostalgia and a mural that comes dancing to life to a musical medley of memories, the production celebrates British-South Asian identity in all its overlapping, contradictory glory.
SHOW INFORMATION
Preview Shows @ Pinter Studio, Arts One, QMUL, London E1 4PA
Thursday 12 – Friday 13 November 2026 @ 7.30pm, doors open 7pm
Main Shows @ The Brady Arts Centre, London E1 5HU
Tue 15 December – Sun 20 December 2026 @7.30pm (Matinees @3pm)
Running time: 65min (no interval)
Language: English
Ages: 7+
Tickets: £10-£18
About KAYSER FOYZ
Playwright, Director and Artist, Kayser Foyz continues his success in telling tales that bring first-time and underserved audiences to theatre by sharing his own multi-faceted heritage through drama and comedy with the nuanced exploration of “intrinsic diversity – which is not the colour of skin, gender, ability of mind or body, sound of accent, or style of clothes, but the translation of the British experience through the lens of local and international heritage, to understand our unique culture, unlike anywhere else in the world.’
