Watch our archive recording of Hanif Kureishi's My Beautiful Laundrette

“Could anyone in their right mind call this silly little island off of Europe their home?”

Although our doors were closed, we were delighted to share the dress rehearsal archive recording of My Beautiful Laundrette, our acclaimed 2019 Made at Curve, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Everyman Theatre Cheltenham and Leeds Playhouse co-production. This recording was available to stream until we were able to fully reopen our building in 2021.

Hanif Kureishi’s iconic and Oscar-nominated screenplay My Beautiful Laundrette was brought to the stage in Autumn 2019 and directed by Curve’s Artistic Director Nikolai Foster. The drama also includes original music from composers Tennant/Lowe of the Pet Shop Boys. My Beautiful Laundrette was nominated in three categories at the WhatsOnStage Awards this year – Best Regional Production, Best New Play and Hareet Deol was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Play.

Set in London during the Thatcher years, My Beautiful Laundrette 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.

This culture clash comedy is also a subversive work of social realism, sprinkled with magic and joy running through the rich veins of Kureishi’s writing. This bold new production of Kureishi’s ground-breaking film explores cultural conflict, gender equality, class and generational strife, all presented against a funky backdrop of 80s music and culture.

Archive recordings are made by theatres so we have a full record of the productions we work on and to create show trailers. Although this dress rehearsal recording was never intended for public broadcast, we made this video available with captions for everyone to enjoy. This footage was recorded at our Public Dress Rehearsal performance, where a number of seats were available to audience members ahead of the first official preview performance. To enable as many people as possible to access theatre we schedule Public Dress Rehearsal performances on Made at Curve productions, with tickets priced at just £1. As this was recorded at the Public Dress Rehearsal, you may spot our brilliant photographer Ellie Kurttz occasionally on screen too!

Fancy a full spin at Powders? Our cast members reunited with Director Nikolai Foster, Writer Hanif Kureishi and Designer Grace Smart to discuss the show, its impact and their memories almost one year on. Click here to watch the discussion now.

If you’ve enjoyed watching the archive footage and digital discussion of My Beautiful Laundrette, please consider making a donation to Curve by clicking here.

At this time when we aren’t able to present shows on stage, any money you can spare is gratefully received. Thank you.

As a registered charity (no.230708), your support will help us ensure that our theatre remains open and can continue to serve all of our communities, both on and off our stages and online.

Click here or press play on the SoundCloud widget below to access enhanced audio descriptive notes for blind and partially sighted audience members. These notes are recorded by Talking Sense Audio Description Services, and provide an introduction to the show, set and characters, alongside the production credits.

Jump to section:
Introduction – 0.00 – 1.31
Synopsis – 1.32 – 3.52
The Set – 3.53 – 7.15
Cast & Characters – 7.16 – 15.31
Production Credits – 15.32 – 16.28

A fully audio described dress rehearsal archive recording of My Beautiful Laundrette was also available to stream during this time.
This audio description was provided by Nadine Beasley and Kate Taylor-Davies of Talking Sense Audio Description Services, with support from Sound Engineer, Gary Giles.

My Beautiful Laundrette

CAST

Paddy Daly – Genghis & Dick O’Donnell
Kammy Darweish – Nasser
Hareet Deol – Salim
Jonny Fines – Johnny
Nicole Jebeli – Tania
Omar Malik – Omar
Balvinder Sopal – Bilquis & Moose
Cathy Tyson – Rachel & Cherry
Gordon Warnecke – Papa & Zaki

CREDITS & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A play by Hanif Kureishi based on his screenplay
Directed by Nikolai Foster

Designer Grace Smart
Composers Tennant/Lowe
Lighting Ben Cracknell
Sound Tom Marshall
Fight Director Bethan Clark of RC-ANNIE Ltd
Casting Kay Magson CDG