Full Cast Set for EAST IS EAST Tour

Adam Karim (Sajit Khan), Assad Zaman (Saleem Khan), Dharmesh Patel (Abdul Khan), Salma Hoque (Meenah Khan) and Simon Nagra (George Khan) join the previously announced comedy award-winning actress Pauline McLynn (Ella Khan) and original West End cast members, Ashley Kumar (Tariq Khan) and Darren Kuppan (Maneer Khan) to complete the casting of the Khan family in the national tour of Ayub Khan Din's critically-acclaimed play East is East. The Khans are joined by Kammy Darweish (Mr Shah), Sakuntala Ramanee (Mrs Shah) and Sally Bankes (Auntie Annie).

East is East, which was part of Jamie Lloyd's second Trafalgar Transformed season, is directed by Sam Yates, and will embark on a 14 week National Tour from 11 June 2015, commencing at Theatre Royal, Brighton. East is East is designed by Tom Scutt, with lighting by Richard Howell and sound and music by Alex Baranowski.

Other confirmed venues for the East is East National Tour include the Waterside Theatre, Aylesbury (22-27 June), New Victoria Theatre, Woking (29 June - 4 July), Churchill Theatre, Bromley (6-11 July), Princess Theatre, Torquay (13-18 July), Regent Theatre, Stoke (20-25 July), Theatre Royal, Nottingham (27 July - 1 August), Grand Opera House, York (3-8 August), Theatre Royal, Glasgow (10-15 August), The Alhambra Theatre, Bradford (31 August - 5 September), Sheffield Lyceum (7 September - 12 September), Bath Theatre Royal (14 September - 19 September) and Oxford Playhouse (21-26 September).

Pakistani chip shop owner George Khan - "Genghis" to his kids - is determined to give his children a strict Muslim upbringing in 1970s Salford. Household tension reaches breaking point as their long-suffering English mother, Ella, gets caught in the cross fire - her loyalties divided between her marriage and the free will of her children.

East is East, Ayub Khan Din's semi-autobiographical account of British Asian life in the 1970s and the clash of cultures between a multi-cultural family growing up in Salford, is a play that continues to resonate and provoke discussion. Starring award-winning actress Pauline McLynn (Father Ted, Shameless and EastEnders) as Ella and a host of the finest British acting talent completing the Khan family and friends, this critically acclaimed production of a modern comedy classic promises to be unmissable.

MEET THE KHANS!

GEORGE KHAN

Simon Nagra's stage credits include Dara, The Revenger's Tragedy, Rafta Rafta, Haroun and The Sea of Stories, all for the National Theatre, Drawing The Line at Hampstead Theatre, Much Ado About Nothing and Anthony and Cleopatra, both for the RSC, Comedians and Rafta Rafta, both at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton, Behna and East is East at Birmingham Rep, The Deranged Marriage for Rifco Theatre Company, The Crime Of The 21st Century at Theatre 21, Play To Win at Soho Theatre, East is East at Oldham Coliseum Theatre, Aureng-Zebe at the National Theatre Studio and Coriolanus at the Dukes Theatre, Lancaster. Simon's screen credits include No Offence, Holby City, Dalziel and Pascoe, Doctors, Green Wing, A Thing Called Love, All About Me, Casualty, Popcorn, The Last Detective, Grease Monkeys, EastEnders, The Bill, All In Good Time, Red River and Midnight Feast.

ELLA KHAN

Pauline McLynn is best known for screen roles including Mrs Doyle in Father Ted (for which she won a British Comedy Award), Libby Croker in Shameless and her current role playing Yvonne Cotton in EastEnders. Pauline's stage credits include most recently The Knight of the Burning Pestle, at The Globe, Happy Days at Sheffield Crucible, Playboy of the Western World at the Donmar Warehouse, The Trojan Women, Comedy of Errors, Yerma and Antigone all at the Abbey Theatre/National Theatre of Ireland, The Double Dealer, Tartuffe, Absurd Person Singular and School for Scandal all at the Gate Theatre, Dublin and Our Country's Good, The Tempest, Top Girls and The Caucasian Chalk Circle for Rough Magic. Her other television credits include Father Figure (BBC), Threesome (Comedy Central), The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff (BBC) Pramface (BBC), three seasons of Jam and Jerusalem (BBC), Bremner, Bird and Fortune (Channel 4, six series), High Hopes (BBC), French and Saunders (BBC), TV To Go (BBC), The Dark Ages (ITV), It Happened Last Year, Dalziel and Pascoe, Family, Aristocrats and Ballykissangel (all for BBC). Pauline's film credits include Stephen Bradley's Noble, Helen in Gypo, Sister Hilda opposite Brendan Blethyn in The Calling, Iris directed by Richard Eyre, Heidi directed by Paul Marcus, Angela's Ashes directed by Alan Parker, The Most Fertile Man in Ireland directed by Dudi Appleton, An Everlasting Piece directed by Barry Levinson and When Brendan met Trudy directed by Kieron J. Walsh. Other film work includes; Quills, Nora, Her Own Rules, Guilttrip. Pauline most recently completed shooting on Jim Sheridan's feature Secret Scripture. She has also published eight best-selling novels, Something for the Weekend (1999), Better Than A Rest (2001), Right on Time (2002), The Woman on the Bus (2004), Summer in the City (2005), Bright Lights and Promises(2007), Missing You Already (2009) and The Time Is Now (2010). In 2012 she published her first novel for young people, Jenny Q, Stitched Up! with Puffin Books, and the sequel JENNY Q, Unravelled.

ABDUL KHAN

Dharmesh Patel's stage credits include Fever Dream Southside at the Citizens Theatre, Albion at Bush Theatre, England Away on UK Tour, Too Clever By Half at Manchester Exchange, The Snow Queen for Trestle, King Lear, Hamlet, Comedy Of Errors, As You Like It, Romeo And Juliet, American Trade, The Grain Store and Morte Arthur all for the RSC, Satyagraha at The Metropolitan Opera, New York and for the English National Opera, Beauty And The Beast at the Lyric, Hammersmith, Coast at Contact Theatre, Manchester, Too Close To Home at the Lyric, Hammersmith and on UK Tour, Accidental Death Of An Anarchist at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton, Slow Time at the National Theatre, Silent Cry on UK Tour and The Happy Prince at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre. Dharmesh's screen credits include Casualty, Doctors and Ray's Daze.

TARIQ KHAN

Ashley Kumar's stage credits include East is East at Trafalgar Studios/UK Tour, Tartuffe at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Commercial Road at the Hackney Empire and The Snow Queen at the Unicorn Theatre. Ashley's screen credits include A Nice Arrangement, Omid Djalili's Little Cracker, Summer In Transylvania, EastEnders, Spooks, Benidorm, The Bill, Doctors and MI High.

MANEER KHAN

Darren Kuppan's stage credits include East is East at Trafalgar Studios/UK Tour, Rafta Rafta at the Bolton Octagon and the New Vic Theatre, Stoke, the latter of which he also performed in Arabian Nights, East is East at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, An August Bank Holiday Lark at the Northern Broadsides, Melody Loses Her Mojo at the Liverpool Playhouse, England Street at the Oxford Playhouse, The Bridge at Freedom Studios, Jamaica House at Duke's Playhouse, Lancaster, Much Ado About Nothing at the RSC, Bollywood Jane at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and Pretend You Have Big Buildings at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. Darren's screen credits include Spooks, Britannia High, Emmerdale, Coronation Street, The Sweet Stall, Piggy, The Code, Winners And Losers and The Chaos Theory.

SALEEM KHAN

Assad Zaman's stage credits include Behind The Beautiful Forevers at the National Theatre, Tyne at Live Theatre and the Theatre Royal, Newcastle, Beats North at Northern Stage and Theatre Auracaria and Dark Woods, Deep Snow at Northern Stage. Assad's screen credits include Cucumber for Red Productions and Channel 4.

MEENAH KHAN

Salma Hoque's stage credits include Multitudes at the Tricycle Theatre and Drawing The Line at Hampstead Theatre. Salma's screen credits include FAM and Holby City.

SAJIT KHAN

Adam Karim is currently training at Manchester School of Theatre and graduates this summer. Before going to drama school Adam performed in Troilus and Cressida at Shakespeare's Globe.

Sally Bankes' (Auntie Annie) stage credits include East is East at Trafalgar Studios/UK Tour, That Day We Sang at The Royal Exchange Manchester (for which she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at The Manchester Theatre Awards), The Winter's Tale at the RSC, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice at the Octagon Theatre, Waiting for Gateaux on a UK tour, Everybody Loves a Winner at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, and Acorn Antiques on a UK tour. Her screen credits include Our Zoo, Pompidou!, Mount Pleasant, Prisoners' Wives, Doctors, World Without End, In With The Flynns, Titanic, Housewife 49, Hollyoaks, White Van Man, Semi-Detached, Hoof and Safety with Nuzzle and Scratch, MI High, Nuzzle and Scratch, Scallywagga, Guantanamo Phil, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Heartbeat, 2 Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, Tittybangbang!, Where the Heart Is, Little Britain, Absolute Power, Twisted Tales, Coronation Street, Fat Friends, Stabat Mater, Line of Fire, Trained, Chicken Tikka Masala (for which she won Best Actress at the OutTakes Dallas Film Festival), Redemption Road and When It All Comes Down.

Kammy Darweish's (Mr Shah) stage credits include Antony and Cleopatra and Holy Warriors at Shakespeare's Globe, City Madam, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Marat Sade, Mirror For Princes, The Bottle and Midnight's Children, all for the RSC, Blood and Gifts, Conduct Unbecoming, Romeo and Juliet, Hiawatha and Peer Gynt, all at the National Theatre and The Merchant of Venice, The Snow Queen, Don't Drink The Water, Julius Caesar and Woyzeck, all at Bristol Old Vic. Kammy's screen credits include 50 Ways To Kill Your Lover, Hollyoaks, Doctors, Taggart, Holby City, Britz, Rome, Saddam's Tribe, The Bill, Casualty, The Message, 55 Degrees North, My Life As A Poppat, Outlaws, Spooks, White Teeth, EastEnders, Murder in Mind, London's Burning, The Glass, Crusades, Skyfall, 31 North 62 East, The Omen, Pleasure Marriage and Colour Me Kubrick.

Sakuntala Ramanee's (Mrs Shah) stage credits include The Lighthouse at The Space, Worn at New Diorama, Romeo And Juliet at the Leicester Square Theatre, Our Children Will Be Next at Theatre 503, Harlesden High Street at Tara Arts, John Clare for Eastern Angles, Is Anything Broken for Tristan Bates, King Lear at the King's Head Theatre, The Man Outside at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, The Blessing Way at Finborough Theatre, Dead Eyes at Soho Theatre, Maharaja's Daughter at the Oval House, Amongst Barbarians at the Manchester Royal Exchange and Camille at the Lyric Hammersmith. Sakuntala's screen credits include Coronation Street, EastEnders, Holby City, Whitechapel, Trial and Retribution, Emmerdale, Casualty, Hustle, Self Made, Indigo and Wish Baby.

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