Dame Meera Syal brings her memoir Vigilauntie! to the Albert Hall stage, sharing hilarious and heartfelt stories from her life.
Dame Meera Syal brings her memoir Vigilauntie! to the Albert Hall on Thursday 22 October, where she'll be joined on stage by Shahidha Bari. It's a live adaptation of her book Vigilauntie: A Memoir - Innit?, and it draws on the true stories that have shaped her life and work.
Syal grew up as the only Asian family in a West Midlands mining village, and she's always been keen on the stage — long before anyone was ready to listen. She studied English at the University of Manchester, where she picked up both the National Student Drama Award and the Edinburgh Scottish Circle Critics' Award, before co-creating Goodness Gracious Me and playing the indomitable Granny Ummi in The Kumars at Number 42. Since then, she's become a Dame and a screenwriter, the first British Asian novelist to enter the national curriculum, a pop chart-topper, a former Professor at Oxford, and the writer of a musical with Andrew Lloyd Webber.
On stage, Vigilauntie! gathers the wisdom her mother and aunties dispensed, her grandfather's attempts to arrange her marriage, her working life as an actress and writer, and her journey to motherhood. It's a look back at the people and the places that made her, told in her own voice.
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The show runs for one hour and fifty minutes, including a twenty-minute interval, and starts at 7:30pm. Tickets are split into four bands: Band A (First Floor Front) is £47.00 including fees, Band B (First Floor Rear) is £42.00, Band C (Centre Balcony) is £37.00, and Band D (Balcony Wings) is £32.00. The Albert Hall is at 27 Peter Street, Manchester, M2 5QR.
