REHEARSALS are in full swing for the Octagon's next production, Ayub Khan-Din's Rafta Rafta.

The play is a modern reworking of Bill Naughton's All In Good Time, by the screenwriter best known for the hit film East Is East.

The wedding feast is over and the young couple move in with the groom’s parents. But how can they live happily ever after with the family so close by – especially with his father’s constant disapproval and his brother’s childish pranks?

The beautiful virgin bride remains just that. How will the family live with the shame?

Ayub Khan-Din says: "I came across the film The Family Way one wet afternoon in Salford. The images and emotions I felt on that first viewing have never left me.

"There was no getting away from the fact that there were so many aspects of the father that resembled our own. After some research I discovered the film was based on Bill’s play All in Good Time and when I was approached to write something for the National Theatre I suggested an Asian version of the play.

"As a writer you sometimes come across a piece of work that leaves such an indelible mark on your life that it makes you think 'God, I wish I’d written that'. Well luckily for me, in getting to adapt this great piece of work, its allowed me to have done so.”

Rafta Rafta opens next Thursday and runs until June 5.