Recent graduates Hareet Deol from Kirby Muxloe in Leicestershire and Jay Varsani will make their professional debuts in the Curve production of Memoirs of an Asian Football Casual which will have its première at the Leicester venue in September 2018.
Deol will play Suf. He is a graduate of Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. Varsani will take the central role of Riaz who guides the audience through his induction into the world of football “casual” culture. He is a graduate of East 15 Acting School.
Curve’s chief executive Chris Stafford and artistic director Nikolai Foster said, “we were privileged to meet many talented young actors in auditions for Dougal Irvine’s cracking adaptation of Riaz Khan’s book, based on his astonishing life story. Both Jay and Hareet instantly stood out as remarkable talents.
“Curve is all about nurturing new talent and we’re proud Jay and Hareet will make their professional stage debuts in this gritty, provocative and funny new play which receives its world première here in Leicester this autumn.
“While it’s widely discussed that there’s an imbalance of BAME artists graduating from UK drama schools today, the reality of this hit home casting this play when we discovered only a handful of graduating actors were from south Asian backgrounds.”
Foster directs. Grace Smart is set and costume designer while Tasha Taylor Johnson is composer and sound designer.
Memoirs of an Asian Football Casual will run at Curve from Wednesday 26 September until Saturday 6 October (press night Wednesday 3 October).