East Is East

Ayub Khan Din's autobiographical play East is East (1996) is often referred to as one of the defining works in British Asian theatre. The 1980s and 1990s was a vibrant period for British Asian theatre. An increase in arts initiatives and improved access to funding - as well as a broader debate about culture and identity - contributed to the flourishing of new writers, and the creation of new theatre companies such as Tara Arts, Tamasha and Kali. Khan Din has expressed his discomfort with the term 'British Asian theatre' and the practice of categorising art by ethnicity, believing that this marginalises Asian writers and audiences from British theatre as a whole. Drawing on universal themes, East is East is as much about inter-generational conflict as it is about clashes between the Khans' Pakistani and British identities. As Khan Din said of the play (and film), 'they're both as much Northern pieces as they are Asian pieces'