Award-winning theatre company tamasha (creator of Strictly Dandia and the original East Is East) brings a revealing and hugely entertaining new show to Bolton following a sell-out London run.

"Tamasha's edgy vox pop exercise gives us a wide ranging glimpse that is certainly hugely entertaining in its presentation but has a serious purpose in trying to counter some of the more toxic stereotypes doing the rounds. It could hardly come at a better time. Glorious, not to say essential viewing."

What's On Stage ****

".some fascinating insights into British Asian life"

Daily Telegraph

".highly entertaining, enough to make you snort with laughter" 

The Guardian

".the beauty of this piece is that it cuts through the proliferation of cultural punditry and social theory post 9/11 to talk directly to the people who know: gabby teenagers, religious youngsters, wives, mothers and Asian men themselves."

Metro

Macho men or metrosexual guys?  Mummy’s boys tied to the apron, or house husbands under the thumb?  Self-made entrepreneurs, pukka professionals and successful executives with their Mercedes Benz lives and designer-clad wives… these thriving, sassy and spirited men have come a long way, but they’ve all got roots.

Using the testimonials of real people, tamasha lifts the lid on modern-day Asian men, seeing them through their own eyes.  Husbands, fathers, brothers, friends and colleagues… you might just recognise someone you know!

For this production, Tamasha travelled the UK, conducting personal and probing interviews with men and women and from all walks of life, and unearthing a wealth of funny, fascinating and surprising stories.  These interviews were recorded and edited to form a kind of ‘audio script’.

On stage, the real life characters are brought alive using an innovative performance technique: the actors are fed the original interviews through earphones, re-enacting them as they are heard, repeating the words verbatim and imitating the characters’ voices, with every tic, breath, intonation and hesitation.

Retaining the earphones for performance allows the actor to remain true to the person (s)he is presenting, retaining a sharpness that may otherwise be lost to the actor’s own speed and habits if the earphones were left behind.  The technology used is obvious to the audience and not hidden on stage, providing the audience with a constant reminder that the voices they are hearing are real and true.

The result is an unusual but compelling cross between impersonation and characterisation which has audiences laughing and gasping (and occasionally wincing!) in recognition.