''Rafta, Rafta...'' is a comedy by British Pakistani

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

Ayub Khan-Din Ayub Khan Din (born 1961) is a British writer and actor. He wrote the BAFTA, BIFA and London Film Critics Circle award-winning film '' East Is East'' (1999), adapted from his 1996 Olivier-nominated play of the same name. His 2008 comedy play ...

adapted from the 1963 Bill Naughton play, ''All in Good Time''. The play is set in the working class English town of Bolton, and examines a story of marital difficulties within an

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

Indian family. Ishwar Dutt is a first-generation immigrant and patriarch of the family. He has a troubled relationship with his newlywed son Atul, whose married life with Vina Patel has got off to a rocky start. The play deals with setting out and resolving these various conflicts.

Productions

London and New York City

''Rafta, Rafta...'' opened at the National Theatre, Lyttelton in April 2007. Nicholas Hytner directed the inaugural production. Harish Patel played the central role of Eeshwar Dutt, with Meera Syal in the role of his sharp-tongued wife Lopa. The play had a successful run, receiving acclaim from both critics and theatre-goers. An

Off Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

production of ''Rafta, Rafta...'' opened in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

on 8 May 2008 at the Acorn Theatre to positive reviews. The cast included Ranjit Chowdhury (Eeshwar Dutt), Manish Dayal (Atul Dutt), Sakina Jaffrey (Lopa Dutt) and

Reshma Shetty Reshma Shetty (born 2 November 1977) is a British actress, best known for her role as Divya Katdare on the USA Network TV series ''Royal Pains''. Early life Shetty was born on November 2, 1977 to Hindu Indian parents in Manchester, England and wa ...

(Vina Patel). Opening Night 19 March in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre. Reetu Patel of MAD Bollywood is the young Movement Consultant for Rafta, Rafta. Jonathan Silverstein directs. Cast led by Geeta Citygirl Chopra and Kamal Marayati. The San Diego Theatre Critics' Circle nominated Geeta Citygirl Chopra in the category of Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play, Female for her performances as Lopa Dutt in the Old Globe's production of Ayub Khan-Din's hit comedy play, "RAFTA, RAFTA..." Awards were presented Monday, 6 February 2012 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, California.

Singapore

The Singapore production of Rafta, Rafta was staged by HuM Theatre in April–May 2010 at the DBS Arts Centre. The production was directed by Dinkar Jani and starred Subin Subaiah in the lead role as Eeshwar Dutt. Veteran stage and TV actress

Daisy Irani Daisy Irani is an Indian television actress, director and producer from Singapore. Biography She was born to Gujarati film actress Padmarani and stage director Namdar Irani in Bombay, India. She is best known for appearing in the role of Daisy ...

played the role of his wife, Lopa. The Singapore production received rave reviews from media critics and theatre-goers.

Mumbai

The Mumbai production of Rafta, Rafta was staged by Akvarious Productions and held its premiere on 14 January 2011 at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay as part of the institute's annual theatre festival. The production was directed by Tahira Nath and Akarsh Khurana.

Film adaptation

Khan-Din has adapted the play as a film titled ''All in Good Time'', produced by

Left Bank Pictures Left Bank Pictures (stylized as LEFT BANK Pictures) is a British film and television production company. It was formed in 2007 and was the first British media company to receive investment from BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC. Lef ...

and distributed by Optimum Releasing.

Amara Karan Amara Karunakaran (born 1984), known professionally as Amara Karan, is an English actress who made her film début as Rita in Wes Anderson's ''The Darjeeling Limited''. The film premièred at the 2007 Venice Film Festival. Karan's second film ro ...

and

Reece Ritchie Reece Ritchie (born 23 July 1986) is an English actor. He is known for his film roles, such as Moha in ''10,000 BC'' (2008), Bis in '' Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time'' (2010), and Iolaus in ''Hercules'' (2014). He starred as Jay in the Bri ...

star alongside Harish Patel and Meera Syal.

References

External links

* {{OlivierAward Comedy 2001–2025 British plays Comedy plays Plays by Ayub Khan-Din Off-Broadway plays Plays based on books West End plays Laurence Olivier Award-winning plays