Rukhsati – Romantic Comedy Play

Rukhsati, a romantic comedy play from the UK, comes to Karachi as part of the World Culture Festival Karachi 2026, offering audiences an intimate and emotionally resonant evening of British Pakistani theatre at Studio 2, Arts Council Karachi. The play is a two-hander set during a South Asian wedding in Tooting, London. Nighat and Tariq, former lovers now in their mid-forties, unexpectedly find themselves alone together and are forced to revisit the choices, loyalties, and expectations that shaped their lives. The narrative moves fluidly between present-day confrontation and vivid memories of youth, using live music and a DJ-led soundscape to unlock nostalgia and collective memory. At its heart, Rukhsati asks questions about love, marriage, family, identity, belonging, and the lives we might have lived. Its cultural world is unmistakably British Pakistani — two people raised in London negotiating inherited Pakistani values, British life, migration, memory, and generational change. That specificity is also what makes the story travel. Language: English Duration: 60 Minutes Entry is free for all, but registration is mandatory. Festival Context: The World Culture Festival Karachi 2026 runs from 29 October to 22 November 2026.