Tonight sees the official opening night of “My Beautiful Laundrette” at the Curve Theatre in Leicester. Adapted by Hanif Kureishi from his 1985 film script, and directed by Nikolai Foster, the play contains two songs as well as instrumental music by Chris and Neil. One new song, “Angelic thug”, plays at the end of the first act and the other, “No boundaries”, is played at the end of the performance. The instrumentals are entitled: “Johnny’s dark side”, “Omar’s theme”, “Beautiful laundrette” and “Night sings (Popa’s theme)”. The play is set in the mid-80s and includes snatches of PSB songs including “West End girls”, “Opportunities”, “I get excited (You get excited too)”, “Left to my own devices”, “Hit music”, “In the night’ and “Paninaro”. Full production and ticket details can be found at the link below.
After its run at Curve in Leicester (20 Sep–5 Oct), the production tours to Cheltenham Everyman Theatre (8–12 Oct), Leeds Playhouse (15–26 Oct), Coventry Belgrade Theatre (29 Oct–2 Nov) and Birmingham Repertory Theatre (5–9 Nov).
Set in London during the Thatcher years, the play tells the story of young British Pakistani, Omar, who transforms his uncle’s run-down laundrette into a thriving business. After being confronted by a fascist gang, Omar recognises school-friend Johnny and uses their history to diffuse the situation. As they renovate the laundrette together, love blossoms between them.
The song “No boundaries” will be included on the CD single and digital bundles of “Dreamland” to be released in October. Full details and a pre-order will be announced shortly.
