Old Globe Presents RAFTA, RATA..., 3/22-4/24

Directed by Jonathan Silverstein, Rafta, Rafta... will run in the Old Globe Theatre, part of The Old Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, March 22 - April 24. Preview performances run March 22 - March 27. Opening night is Sunday, March 27 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.

Winner of the 2008 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy for its acclaimed run at The National Theatre in London and a hit with critics and audiences in New York, Rafta, Rafta... takes a hilarious look at the generational divide on sex and marriage within a close-knit Indian family living in England. Following their wedding, two newlyweds find that starting their life together under the groom's family's roof is no honeymoon. With warmth and humor, this British comedy examines what happens when a young couple must choose between saving money or their marriage.

The cast of Rafta, Rafta... features Shalin Agarwal (Etash Tailor), Geeta Citygirl Chopra (Lopa Dutt), Amir Darvish (Jivaj Bhatt), Nasser Faris (Laxman Patel), Ariya Ghahramani (Jai Dutt), Mahira Kakkar (Vina Patel), Caralyn Kozlowski (Molly Bhatt), Kamal Marayati (Eeshwar Dutt), Gita Reddy (Lata Patel) and Rachid Sabitri (Atul Dutt).

The creative team includes Alexander Dodge (Scenic Design), Christal Weatherly (Costume Design), Lap Chi Chu (Lighting Design), Paul Peterson (Sound Design), Gillian Lane-Plescia (Dialect Coach), Reetu Patel (Movement Consultant), Mark Danisovszky (Music Consultant) and Diana Moser (Stage Manager).

Playwright Ayub Khan-Din was born in 1961 and grew up in Salford, Manchester. After leaving school he worked briefly as a hairdresser before enrolling in drama school, where he wrote his first stage play, East is East (1997), for Tamasha, a theater company in London. An autobiographical story of a mixed-race family growing up in an overcrowded terraced house in a white, working-class area of Salford in the early 1970s, it was first staged at The Royal Court Theatre in London and subsequently adapted (by himself) into a highly successful feature film. His second play, Last Dance at Dum Dum (1999), concerns the septuagenarian members of the dwindling Anglo-Indian community in Calcutta, still clinging tightly to their old imperial past. Notes on Falling Leaves (2004) was first performed at The Royal Court Theatre, and Rafta, Rafta... (2007), a comic adaptation of Bill Naughton's 1960s story All in Good Time, won a Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in 2008. His new film, West is West (a follow-up to East is East), will open soon and the film version of Rafta, Rafta... will follow in June. He recently delivered his commissioned play, Fauzi, based on Marlow's Doctor Faustus, to Lincoln Center Theater. Khan-Din's latest play, All the Way Home, will premiere in Manchester, England, and he is currently working on a musical for the Royal National Theatre called Bunty Berman Presents.. Khan-Din also works as an actor and has appeared in many films including My Beautiful Laundrette and Sammy and Rosie Get Laid.

Director Jonathan Silverstein helmed the acclaimed Off Broadway world premiere of The Temperamentals by Jon Marans, produced by Daryl Roth, Stacy Shane and Martian Entertainment (Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble). His other Off Broadway credits include revivals of A.R. Gurney's The Dining Room (Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Director, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble), Robert Anderson's classics Tea and Sympathy and I Never Sang for My Father and John Patrick's The Hasty Heart, all for Keen Company, where he serves as Resident Director. His other New York credits include Red Herring by Michael Albanese (New York International Fringe Festival, Outstanding Direction Award), Blueprint by Bixby Elliot (Summer Play Festival), Cocteau's Indiscretions and A Perfect Analysis Given by a Parrot (Phoenix Theatre Ensemble), The Rats Are Getting Bigger (New York International Fringe Festival and The Public Theater's New Work Now! festival), Greater Messapia (Queens Theatre in the Park) and The Train Play (Clubbed Thumb). Silverstein's regional credits include The Fantasticks (Merrimack Repertory Theatre), Merton of the Movies and Marry Me a Little (Dorset Theatre Festival), The Triumph of Love (Cleveland Play House), Urinetown and tick, tick. BOOM! (Cape Rep Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing and Cymbeline (The Theatre at Monmouth) and Ionesco's The Chairs (Sledgehammer Theatre). Silverstein was featured as one of 2009's Out 100, Out Magazine's annual list of the most outstanding and inspiring men and women of the year.

TICKETS to Rafta, Rafta... can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park. Performances at the Old Globe Theatre begin on March 22 and continue through April 24. Ticket prices range from $29 to $85. Performance times: Previews: Tuesday, March 22 at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, March 23 at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, March 24 at 8:00 p.m., Friday, March 25 at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, March 26 at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, March 27 at 2:00 p.m. Regular Performances: Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m. and Sunday evenings at 7:00 p.m. There is also a Wednesday matinee on April 13 at 2:00 p.m. and no Saturday matinee performance on April 16. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 29 years of age and under, seniors and groups of 10 or more.

Photo Credit: J. Katarzyna Woronowicz.

 

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