SWEETMEATS Comes to the Bush Theatre in February

Sweetmeats, which will have its world premiere at the Bush Theatre from 7 February 2026 (press night 13 February), is an intimate love story between two South Asian elders, Hema (Shobu Kapoor, Polite Society) and Liaquat (Rehan Sheikh, Silence, Donmar Warehouse), who are brought together on a course for those facing type-2 diabetes. Sweetmeats is a co-production with Tara Theatre, the theatre company creating innovative, politically charged work through a South Asian lens. Sweetmeats is written by Karim Khan (Brown Boys Swim, Soho Theatre) and directed by Tara Theatre's Artistic Director Natasha Kathi-Chandra.

In England, it's estimated that there are over 420,000 people from a South Asian background living with diabetes. And over 230,000 have a diagnosis of prediabetes, meaning they're at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes. People of South Asian origin today are between four and six times more likely to get type 2 diabetes than white people.

An important factor, as reported in The Guardian in 2023, is the impact of the disproportionate number of famines under British colonial rule and the lasting effect on South Asian genes. *

South Asians have higher rates of diabetes due to a combination of genetic factors, different body fat distribution, diet, and lifestyle. People from this background are more likely to store fat around their organs (visceral fat), leading to insulin resistance even at lower BMI levels. Combined with traditional diets high in carbohydrates and fats, and lower levels of physical activity, this increases the risk for developing type 2 diabetes. **

Karim Khan said, ‘I wanted to centre a generation of South Asians that we rarely see on our stages - our elders - and make them the main characters of their own love story, as they navigate blood sugar levels, hypo snacks and metformin.

Director Natasha Kathi-Chandra said, ‘It is necessary and urgent to expand the canon of British Theatre to include more than one type of South Asian story. This was the driving force of my first season as Artistic Director at Tara Theatre- to platform a variety of voices in order to make this a reality.  For this final show, we look at two older voices from the diaspora communities living in the UK, inviting audiences into the rich journeys of their lives. It has been a joy to develop Sweetmeats with Karim and to produce it in collaboration with the Bush, I hope that at both venues it will spark conversations between intergenerational families and audiences beyond the auditorium.'

*  https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2023/oct/12/how-british-colonialism-increased-diabetes-in-south-asians