Tommy Belshaw, Jaz Singh Deol and Anoushka Deshmukh lead the cast of Marriage Material, an adaptation of Sathnam Sanghera’s novel coming to Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in May.
Adapted for the stage for the first time, it is written by Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti (A Kind of People) and directed by Iqbal Khan (East is East).
The Bains’ corner shop in Wolverhampton has been at the centre of the family for three generations. Against the backdrop of a changing 20th century, Mrs Bains is balancing running the business, caring for her ailing husband and the demands of her two headstrong daughters, who each have their eye on a different kind of future.
Fast forward to the present day, a family tragedy pulls Arjan Bains back from a life in London. The shop represents everything he was trying to escape, but with his mother insisting it remain open, how long can he stay away?
Belshaw plays Jim/Bill, Deol is Mr Bains/Arjun and Deshmukh is Surinder, with Celeste Dodwell as Claire/Mrs Flanagan, Avita Jay as Mrs Bains, Kiran Landa as Kamaljit, Omar Malik as Ranjit/Tanvir and Irfan Shamji as Dhanda.
A coproduction with Birmingham Rep, Marriage Material’s full creative team includes set and costume designer Good Teeth, lighting designer Simeon Miller, composer and sound designer Holly Khan, movement director Anjali Mehra, associate movement director Rakhee Sharma, voice and dialect coach Gurkiran Kaur, assistant director Harper K Hefferon and associate sound designer Anna Wood. Casting is by Jatinder Chera.
Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s first play Behsharam broke box office records at Soho/Birmingham Rep. Her second play Behzti was sensationally closed after protests and won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.
Marriage Material runs at Lyric Hammersmith Theatre from May 22 – June 21, 2025. Tickets: Marriage Material
Top image: Marriage Material (supplied)