A TALE of love threatened by the land-grabbing antics of a village leader was the subject of the first performance by the local Bengali community of an Asian play in a St Albans theatre. The Deshi Theatre Group mounted a production of Chay Kyar Jomin at t

A TALE of love threatened by the land-grabbing antics of a village leader was the subject of the first performance by the local Bengali community of an Asian play in a St Albans theatre.

The Deshi Theatre Group mounted a production of Chay Kyar Jomin at the Maltings Arts Theatre - a play set in a village in rural Bangladesh and performed in Sylheti dialect.

St Albans council funded the production from Government money aimed at building stronger communities and the idea of the play first came to light when council officers met with members of the Muslim community last year.

From that initial meeting, Fozlur Rashid volunteered to put together the production which involved auditioning performers, translating the story, designing and building the set, directing the play, running rehearsals and marketing the show.

Richard Shwe, head of culture and community development, said: "The hope is that this first production will encourage a lot more young people from the Bengali community to get involved in future productions.