BRADFORD actor Kamal Kaan is appearing in an award-winning play in his home city.

Alongside Leicester-based actor Rohit Gokani, he is performing in The Chef Show, a comedy-drama set in a Bangladeshi restaurant in a rural village in Yorkshire, where a father and son battle for power during a bustling Saturday night.

It is being performed at The Studio at the Alhambra, and the following evening at another local venue, Otley Courthouse.

As well as playing the son Khalid, Kamal plays a number of other characters - a woman called Sarah - who is on a first date - Faisal, a first generation migrant who works in the kitchen, Simon, who is a nervous wreck wanting to propose to Catherine, boisterous drunk Tony, and Rod, a controlling doctor on a night out with his wife Janet.

Altogether, Kamal and Rohit play 14 different roles of customers and co-workers. “It gets a bit in rehearsals juggling all the characters, but it’s immense fun to do,” says Kamal, who grew up in Bradford and attended Carlton Bolling College, going on to study at Dixons CTC (now Dixons City Academy), before a degree in architecture at the University of Cambridge and an MA in TV Fiction Writing in Glasgow.

In an quirky twist, the show features a real chef from the area in which the show tours, who rustles up tasty food on stage.

“The audience then get to taste the food that the chef has cooked,” says Kamal, who still lives in Bradford.

He adds: “The show appealed to me because of the thrill of being in a production where the audience not only get to watch, but their senses are soaked with the smell of delectable spices while the food is being cooked, and then get to taste it.

“It’s rare to experience theatre that stimulates all those senses – it really is a treat.”

“Also,” he adds, “despite it having comedy elements, the play deals with themes of belonging, immigration and cultural clashes which create a wider discussion of our relationship to the way in which we perceive Bangladeshis and our attitudes to ‘Indian food’.

“There’s an incredible diversity of styles and flavours - there is a stark difference between Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi cooking.”

The Chef Show is written by Bradfordian Nick Ahad whose previous work includes Emmerdale.This is the fourth collaboration between Nick and Kamal, who has himself written dramas, for BBC radio .

The show, which is produced, conceived and directed by Stefan Escreet who heads the theatre company Ragged Edge Productions, won Best New Show at this year’s Cumbrian Life Awards and the Stage Performance of the Year at The Rural Touring Awards 2018.

“Stefan is the most wonderful director to work with. We joke and call him Dad, because he is so kind and nurturing in rehearsals,” says Kamal.

Kamal’s family will be watching the show. “It will be lovely to share my work with them as they have been so supportive. I like the fact that the show is linked to their own experiences - my two elder brothers work in the catering industry,” he says.

*The Chef Show is at The Studio, The Alhambra, Bradford, on Friday June 21 at 7.30pm. To book visit bradford-theatres.co.uk/whats-on/the-chef-show; Otley Courthouse Saturday June 22; otleycourthouse.org.uk 01943 467466