Past projects
Struggles of Bangladeshi Squatters of Myrdle and Parfett Street (1975-1995)
Current project
Stories of struggles and strides: half a century of Bangladeshi endeavours in London’s East End (1950-2000)
We Stayed – a theatrical performance
The story of Angura and Shishu and how the British Bangladeshis fought for their rights, equality and against extreme racism in London’s East End (1970-2000).
Presented by East End Connection
Stories of struggles and strides: half a century of British Bangladeshi endeavours in London’s East End (1950-2000) on Saturday, 4 July 2026, 7.00-9.00 pm at Theatre, Toynbee Studios, 28 Commercial Street, London, E1 6AB. It was Written and directed by Dr Canan Salih, Arts Without Borders Story by Dr M Ahmedullah, East End Connection
Performed by a cast of 16.
Angura, Shishu and Kala Miah, three young siblings, and their mother, Komla Bibi, arrive in London in January 1974. They experience their first shock the morning after the first difficult cold night in East London’s Settle Street, when their father is leaving home for work, one of the occupants of the top floor of the four-story house walks in with a bandaged head, swollen cheeks, a bruised forehead and a few cuts on his hands. He was badly beaten by racists near Stepney Green Station and had to spend the night in the hospital.
While Angura’s story follows the pressures placed on young Bangladeshi girls around education, family duty and marriage, Shishu’s journey traces the growing political consciousness of a young British Bangladeshi boy in the wake of the murder of Altab Ali in 1978. Both siblings are eventually sent back to Sylhet for different reasons, and both must negotiate questions of identity, culture, belonging and resistance.
Set between Sylhet and London’s East End, the play traces one family’s migration and the wider story of British Bangladeshi activism: the fight for justice and equality, the struggle against extreme racism and racial violence, and their political participation to bring about positive change.