Featured Show: My English Persian Kitchen

Blending live cookery and storytelling, the show tells the true story about one woman who loses everything

Atoosa Sepehr has a remarkable story. A remarkable true story. She fled an abusive marriage in Iran, ending up safe but alone in London in the noughties.

Desperately missing her family and feeling lonely and homesick, she began using cookery as a focus. The tastes, aromas and ingredients reminded her of her mother’s kitchen back home. This ultimately led her to build a new life and community around food.

By the end of 2018, she had published her own cookery book – From a Persian Kitchen – filled with the recipes of her grandmother, aunt and mother back in Iran.

Atoosa’s remarkable story continued in the form of a play written by award-winning writer Hannah Khalil.

Earlier this year, Hannah was selected to be one of Bristol Old Vic’s four writers on the theatre’s Five Year Commitment residency.

Her play My English Persian Kitchen, chronicles Sepehr’s quest to start again. The show cleverly integrates live cooking on stage with theatrical storytelling. At the end, audiences are invited to taste test the food.

“To have this as my first play at Bristol Old Vic, where I am currently writer in residence, feels incredibly fitting as it is all about how to find community in new places and the lovely people at Bristol Old Vic have certainly made me feel welcome,” Khalil says.

The recipe being cooked live on stage is Persian Noodle and Herb Soup, which can be found below.

The play was originally a co-production by Soho Theatre and Traverse Theatre.

It took the Edinburgh Festival Fringe by storm last year, as well as earning further rave reviews in its London run.

Actor Isabella Nefar returns to the role again this year, which will see her on tour in London, Bristol, Dublin and Belfast.

My Persian Kitchen will be in the Weston Studio of Bristol Old Vic 14 – 18 October 2025

For more information or to book, visit: https://bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/my-english-persian-kitchen

Cast and Creatives
Starring Isabella Nefar
Playwright: Hannah Khalil
Original Story: Atoosa Sepehr
Director: Chris White
Set Design and Costume: Pip Terry
Lighting: Marty Langthorne
Sound: Dan Balfour
Movement Direction: Jess Tucker Boyd
Photography: Production photos taken by Ellie Kurttz on the 26 July 2024 at the Soho Theatre

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