Following sold out and acclaimed runs at the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and in London, Soho Theatre announces the triumphant return of My English Persian Kitchen, Hannah Khalil’s life-affirming play, inspired by an original true story by best-selling cookery author Atoosa Sepehr, directed by Chris White.
The hit show tours 4 venues across 4 weeks from 30 September to 25 October, kicking off with a two-week run at Soho Theatre graduating from last year’s studio space to its Main House this Autumn. Performances follow at Bristol Old Vic with whom Soho Theatre has a long history of transfers and co-productions and where Khalil is Writer in Residence. Programmed as part of the prestigious Belfast International Arts Festival now in its 63rd edition, the production will then tour to Dublin’s Pavilion Theatre, Dun Laoghaire, and on to Belfast’s Lyric Theatre.
This evocative and timely drama chronicles one woman’s quest to start again. Forced to flee with no hope of ever returning home, she remembers the tastes and aromas of her mother’s kitchen and begins to lovingly recreate the dishes of her childhood and homeland and finds a new recipe for life. My English Persian Kitchen places community, identity and belonging at its very heart – all marinated in the fabulous flavours of Persia featuring live cooking on stage and the communal sharing of the much-loved Persian dish Ash-E Reshteh. Casting will be announced shortly.
Atoosa Sepehr comments: “I didn’t realise how much I love cooking and how much I love food until I had to leave my country. Smell and taste can simply transport you to a different time and place. An important theme in the play for me is the idea that even in our lowest moments life sometimes offers a way out, an opportunity to learn and grow and ultimately to redefine who we are as individuals. Culture truly has no borders and when we migrate to a new country, we take with us aspects of our homeland that can contribute to a wonderfully rich multi-cultural society. I hope audiences will now more than ever in these unsettling times, both in my adopted countries of the UK and also Ireland, find this story an uplifting and empowering one.”
Award-winning playwright Hannah Khalil (National Theatre of Scotland, RSC, The Globe Theatre) adds: “I did a little dance of joy in my kitchen when I found out My English Persian Kitchen was coming back to Soho Theatre and then touring. To have this as my first play at Bristol Old Vic, where I am currently writer in residence, feels incredibly fitting as it is all about how to find community in new places and the lovely people at Bristol Old Vic have certainly made me feel welcome. And then Ireland! Where I have never had a play before: a homecoming for me – I can’t wait to experience the sounds, sights and smells of this play in my motherland.”
My English Persian Kitchen was originally co-produced by Soho Theatre and Traverse Theatre at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and at Soho Theatre to critical acclaim, with the lead role played by Isabella Nefar. The production was also originally supported by the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh.
