The Buddha of Suburbia Tickets

The Buddha of Suburbia Tickets On Sale Now

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s “glorious and intoxicating” (The Times) The Buddha of Suburbia transfers to the Barbican Theatre for a strictly limited season this year. Based on Hanif Kureishi’s award-winning novel, join 17-year-old Karim as he navigates the joys and challenges of growing up in 1970s London in Emma Rice’s “lovable and cheeky” (The Guardian) world premiere play.

About The Buddha of Suburbia

South London in the late ‘70s - employment is high, inflation is high, food is in short supply and strikes are popping up every other day. It is the winter of discontent, but this year will be memorable for teenager Karim in many other ways. Desperate to escape his suburban life, he jumps at the opportunity to enter the world of theatre… and is soon travelling from his home city to New York and back again - and even to the brink of soap opera stardom.

Both a coming-of-age story and a political satire, The Buddha of Suburbia follows Karim as he navigates family, friends, sex, theatre and belonging. This warm and funny stage version of Hanif Kureishi’s semi-autobiographical novel had its world premiere at the RSC’s Swan Theatre to huge audience acclaim and now transfers to London.

Creative Team

Hanif Kureishi adapts his novel for the stage, having previously helped turn it into a four-part BBC drama series in 1993. Kureishi is the winner of the Whitbread First Novel Award for The Buddha of Suburbia and was nominated for an Academy Award (Best Screenplay) for My Beautiful Laundrette.

The play, which is co-produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company and Wise Children, is directed by Wise Children’s founder Emma Rice. Rice is known for her uniquely exuberant style, with previous work including The Red Shoes, Brief Encounter and time as Artistic Director at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

Don’t Miss Tickets for The Buddha of Suburbia at the Barbican

From South London to an extraordinary new life… or at least, Beckenham! Book The Buddha of Suburbia tickets and enjoy this modern classic on stage in an “engrossing love letter to Hanif Kureishi that leaves you on a rare high” (The Telegraph).