Casting has been announced for the Leicester Curve première of Wipers which honours the contribution of the one million South Asian soldiers who fought alongside British troops during World War I.
Commissioned by Curve and co-produced with Coventry’s Belgrade and Watford Palace Theatre, Wipers by Ishy Din is inspired by the story of Khuddadad Khan, the first South Asian soldier to be awarded a Victoria Cross for his bravery at the first Battle of Ypres.
Wipers is set in October 1914 when the British forces, bolstered by huge numbers of volunteer soldiers from across the Empire, have suffered huge casualties at Ypres in one of the first bloody battles of The Great War.
Waleed Akhtar plays Ayub. He is currently appearing in Offstage Theatre’s Re: Home at the Yard Theatre, London. He was also in Matthew Spangler’s adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner at Nottingham Playhouse in 2013.
Sartaj Garewal plays A D. His theatre credits include David Hare’s adaptation of Katherine Boo’s book Behind the Beautiful Forevers at the National Theatre in 2015, Theatre 503’s Decade in 2010 and Tinderbox by Lucy Kirkwood at the Bush Theatre in 2008 and he took the role of Sayeed in Rani Moorthy’s Too Close To Home at the Lyric Hammersmith in 2006.
Jassa Ahluwalia plays Thomas and Simon Rivers is Sadiq. Curve’s associate director Suba Das directs.
Wipers opens at Curve on Friday 8 April and runs until Saturday 23 April. Press night is Thursday 14 April.
It then moves to Watford Palace Theatre from 27 April until 7 May and Coventry’s Belgrade from 12 until 21 May.