Marriage Material

Patrick Lay at The Rep Theatre, Birmingham – Thursday 26^th June 2025

Based on the novel by Sathnam Sanghera, Marriage Material was adapted by Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti and directed by Iqbal Khan for a theatre production.

Set in Wolverhampton in the late 1960s, it depicts a typical first-generation Sikh family who have emigrated from the Punjab, India to start a new life in the UK as owners of a corner shop.  The production starts off with the two daughters in the Bains family dancing on stage before their very different characteristics are introduced.  Kamaljit the eldest daughter has an obedient personality in sync with her heritage.  Her parents’ make no secret of the traditional and stereotypical path of a house wife that they implore their daughters to have.

But Surinder the youngest daughter has other ideas.  She is very academic and has a relentless pursuit to be successful in life herself rather than just marrying a successful husband.  This is validated further when her English teacher personally visits her mum at their house to encourage her to continue studying.  But such aspirations are soon dismissed by her parents almost as if education and a career are fantasy for women and they perceive this as prohibitive for immigrants in a western country.

The attention is very much on Surinder as the younger prettier daughter and she soon gains male attention as she is about to sit her O level exams.  Most notably from a young white male confectionary seller who takes a shine to her in their shop as their mutual love of poetry shows an obvious chemistry.

Some unexpected news sees Mrs Bains order her daughters to relocate to Southall to live with their aunty until they have arranged marriages.  But her plans are soon scuppered when an Indian man who works in their shop declares his love for Kamaljit to her mum.  Whilst Surinder vanishes leaving a parting letter to send shockwaves through the family.  But is the grass quite so green on the other side for Surinder’s escape to her new life?

When the show resumes after the interval it is fast forwarded to the modern era as we slowly establish how both Kamaljit and Surinder’s lives panned out into their middle age.  By this stage Kamaljit’s grown up and career driven son Arjan is introduced as he himself has a love interest that he feels conflicted about.

Surinder who was not seen or heard from by the family makes a comeback.  But with so much water under the bridge, is there a way back for her within the family unit?  Meanwhile, after going over things with a fine-tooth comb, Arjan reaches a key decision about his own relationship.

The production has a good mixture of a comedy and seriousness where the late 1960s were signposted well both with the attire and some famous songs played from that time.  This was continued when the show resumed with the equivalent from the more recent decades.

As someone whose wife is Sikh, the challenges the Punjabi and other communities faced from that era is not alien to me.  But the production is quite an eye opener for those less familiar as to just how conflicted the first generation would have been at that time between not losing their cultural identity but wanting to blend into the UK.  Plus of course the impact this would have had on young Indian adults in the 1960s looking to make their mark on life in the UK.

The production runs until Saturday 5^th July and is one not to be missed!