Dear Suraiya…Love Rehana (1988-1992)

Mile End Road
1 May 1988 - 1 May 1992
Age range: 9-11
Dear Suraiya... Love Rehana (1992) Poster Dear Suraiya... Love Rehana (1992) Poster

Dear Suraiya…Love Rehana told the story of a young Bangladeshi girl and her English friend in London, and her relation, Rehana, who lives in Sylhet. The link between them was tea!

Tea – our national drink, something we in the UK take wholly for granted.

Tea – an important factor in the Bangladeshi economy and in the lives of thousands of working men and women and their families in the ‘Tea Gardens of Sylhet’.

In the play the story moved back and forth from the Tea Gardens to London as it told of the lives and experiences of tea workers and the two friends in London as they came to understand that behind the simple cup of tea is great hardship. Whilst telling a very dramatic and human story, the play also challenged some of the misinformation, misconceptions and prejudices that existed at the time about Bangladesh and Bangladeshis.

Originally performed in 1988 this play was revived in 1992.

The play was the first in a series of bilingual Theatre-in-Education plays presented by the company in English and Sylheti-Bengali.

Find out more about Sylheti-Bengali and English bilingual theatre

You can access the script of this play via the British Library’s MPS Modern Playscripts Collection.

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