Rani Moorthy hits the zeitgeist in this world premiere of her new stage play about a Muslim family coping with life in today's Britain. Exploring the pressures on family life that terrorism and fundamentalism have brought, 'Too Close To Home' opens at Lyric Studio, Hammersmith, London from the 1st-11th November before touring the UK. Huddled in a world of extraordinary events, an ordinary Sufi Muslim family gathers during Ramadan to pray and to break the fast. Life takes on unexpected dimensions as family conflict erupts. The youngest son hurriedly hides a rucksack, and in the course of a long days journey into night the rucksack is not the only secret exposed.

Rani Moorthy brings her generous warmth and vitality to a family catapulted into crisis. As attitudes to Islam divide the generations and a new world order challenges religious identity, this powerful and vibrant drama asks, “Do you really know what is going on under your own roof?”

Inspired by work Rani Moorthy undertook with young Muslims in Greater Manchester in 1999, 'Too Close to Home' is rooted in the universal theme of family, and how values imparted by family life form the crux of future choices and conflicts. Living in a post 7/7 world the families religious identity is challenged by forces within and without. Bearing witness to the increasing unease with Muslims in areas of British society, they begin to turn inwards.

Rani Moorthy was born in Malaysia, and came to UK in 1996. Rasa have produced Rani’s previous plays Pooja, Manchester United and the Malay Warrior, Dancing Within Walls and the hit Curry Tales. A Handful of Henna was recently seen at Crucible, Sheffield. In Too Close To Home Rani plays the mother Kalida, with Sartaj Garewal (Silver Streets Kuljit Singh) as her eldest son. Other Silver Street regulars Shiv Grewal and Dharmesh Patel play husband and younger son. Iqbal Khan directs with designs by Rachana Jadhav and lighting by Ciaran Bagnall.

ABOUT RASA

Based in Manchester, Rasa produce exciting and heart-warming drama that unites both South Asian and Western theatre. The company produced the massive hit Curry Tales which is the most widely toured piece of South Asian theatre in the UK, seen in over 80 venues and broadcast on Radio 4.

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