| Rafta, Rafta... | |
| Image Size: | 180px |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Setting: | The working-class English town of Bolton |
| Subject: | Comic tale of close-knit Indian family life in England |
| Premiere: | 2007 |
| Place: | Royal National Theatre, Lyttelton, London |
| Iobdb Id: | 5136 |
Rafta, Rafta... is a comedy by British Asian playwright Ayub Khan-Din 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 Indian family. Eeshwar Dutt is a first-generation immigrant and patriarch of the family. He has a troubled relationship with his newly-wed 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.
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 production of Rafta Rafta opened in New York on May 8, 2008 at the Acorn Theater to good reviews.[1] The cast includes Ranjit Chowdhury (Eeshwar Dutt), Manish Dayal (Atul Dutt), Sakina Jaffrey (Lopa Dutt, and Reshma Shetty (Vina Patel).
Khan-Din is adapting the play for a film to be produced by Left Bank Pictures and distributed by Optimum Releasing.[2]