PLOT: In the play, ‘Vitamin D’, having moved back in with her parents in suburban North West London after her divorce, Larki is facing friends, family, aunties, ‘besties’, and the epic decision between jalebi or gulaab jamun. She’s searching for something, she just hasn’t quite figured out what yet. ‘Vitamin D’ looks at the changing relationships between women, complexities of emotional crises, British South Asian culture, the stigma of divorce and everyyyyyones opinion on it all.
Following a sell-out performance in 2022, Saher Shah’s debut play ‘Vitamin D’ is returning for a tour this Spring.
With an all female cast staring Saher herself, along with Seema Bowri, Anisa Butt, Madiha Ansari, Noor Hadid and Gabriella Schmidt, ‘Vitamin D’ explores the taboo of divorce in British South Asian culture.
Saher Shah says: “The topic of divorce is still very much a taboo in South Asian culture.
“For women especially, it’s framed as a failure on their part, something bad that we should avoid and definitely do not need more of.
“But divorce for most people means that you’re now free from a marriage that wasn’t good for you – it wasn’t nourishing.
“So what if we saw divorce as something positive rather than a failure, what if it was seen as a vitamin we didn’t know was needed, and now it’s happened it’s nourishing.”
“Perfect combination of comedy and drama”
Director Melina Namdar adds: “Vitamin D is the perfect combination of comedy and drama and it feels deeply familiar in so many ways. It’s a blessing to get to work with such a beautiful human story.
“Saher Shah has a beautifully articulate way of explaining that as women, we can be our best allies but we also uphold the patriarchy within the community, and we want to shine a light on that so that people leave with a new perspective and understanding of this.
“We also want people to have a good laugh and show a real portrayal of South Asian people so they instantly say “Oh my god, I know that person”.”
‘Vitamin D’ is presented by Sarah Allen Productions, and supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. Find out more: www.thelbt.org/what-s-on/drama/vitamin-d/
Tour schedule & Ticket Info
6th March – Lawrence Batley, Huddersfield – www.thelbt.org
10-11th March – Bolton Octagon – www.octagonbolton.co.uk
14-16th March – Rosemary Branch, London – www.rosemarybranchtheatre.co.uk
17th March – The Edge, Manchester – www.edgetheatre.co.uk
