In this raucously funny and often moving family saga, three generations of British Punjabi Sikhs try to fashion an identity and a set of values from the modest beginnings of a Wolverhampton corner shop. At the centre of the story are sisters Kamaljit (Kiran Landa) and Surinder (Anoushka Desmukh) Bains, marriageable 1960s teenagers at the start and world-weary aunties at the end.
In between they experience bereavement, elopement, implacable shame and the resurgence of the racism embodied in Enoch Powell’s infamous “rivers of blood” speech in Birmingham in 1968. With such a sprawling canvas, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s play (based on Sathnam Sanghera’s novel) is inevitably flawed: a strong first half is followed by a rambling and less plausible second. But Iqbal Khan’s production, for the Lyric and Birmingham Rep, is driven by a mix of warmth and potent conflict. The cast are great value, even if the range of ages they have to play is sometimes a stretch.
