Marriage proposal I just couldn't refuse!

Iqbal explains: “What's lovely and even handed about the way Gurpreet does this is that the two young girls represent very different kinds of women and different kinds of choices and have very different temperaments.

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“One of them wants a family, a whole gang of children, and she wants to be in love with her husband and eat Black Forest gateau! That’s her aspiration, those are her dreams - and actually, she achieves them.

“The other wants education, she wants the life of the mind and to be a teacher.

“And there isn’t a judgement. The world pressures and constrains these girls in different ways, but they're both honoured and both those ambitions are celebrated.”

Focusing on the sisters and their contrasting destinies helps solve some of the challenges of bringing Sathnam’s sweeping story to the stage - both narratively and practically.

“It’s a bit more linear in the play (than the book), and we do take the family through the journey,” Iqbal agrees. “And it’s useful because some of our extraordinary company are doubling (roles).