SIMON Nagra is appearing in East Is East for a fourth time and on this occasion he has graduated to the lead role of Mr Khan.

"I've never played George before; it's always been Mr Shah, first at Oldham in 1989/90, then at the New Vic in Stoke about nine years ago and for the Birmingham Rep in 2010," says Simon, who arrives at the Grand Opera House in York on Monday, part way through Sam Yates's national tour of Ayub Khan Din’s semi-autobiographical account of British Asian life in the 1970s. "Sam came to see me in Dara at the National Theatre when I played a puritanical 17th century Mullah, and he cast me after that."

In an East meets West story best remembered for Damien O'Donnell's 1999 film version, Pakistani chip shop owner George Khan is determined to give them a strict Muslim upbringing in 1970s' Salford. Household tension reaches breaking point as their long-suffering English mother, Pauline McLynn's Ella, is caught in the crossfire, her loyalties divided between her marriage and the free will of her children.

George is the story's most controversial character, in his threatening relationship both with his children – who call him "Genghis" – and his wife. "He has a puritanical way of bringing up his children but he's not just tyrannical or a monster; he's lost," says Simon. "What I can comment on is what Sam [Yates] and I have tried to find in this man, namely what his contradiction is, and how he's unable to handle the contradiction of an Asian man marrying a white woman in Salford in 1971, when it was even difficult for the white woman, who could be treated as a prostitute for such a marriage.

"The kids are just as Salford as anyone but George feels he wants to keep his culture and solidify it, which is why he wants to marry his sons off. That was the case in his community in the 1970s and it's still the case now, though we live in a much more educated and open world, so against that cultural rigidity, by nature of the world becoming more cosmopolitan, people have to bend to that change.

"But it's always difficult for George to come to terms with that, as he came to England always with the intention of going back."

East Is East may be set in 1971, but it resonates with Anglo-Asian relations today. "That's a very valid and poignant point. I had some friends who came to the show in Stoke a few nights ago, and one of the things we were talking about was how, with some shows that you watch, you just see them in an historical context, but here you can relate to all the themes now. You're not watching something that feels like an historical drama and then driving home in your eco car," says Simon.

"I also think there's more shared knowledge in our communities now, relating to each other, when as a kid we were taught never ever to talk about your family. It was like a Godfather thing! You never revealed anything to anyone about your family."

Simon grew up in a Sikh family in Coventry, where his father worked day and night in the foundries, after leaving behind "what was left of the British Raj" in India. Times have changed for children since then, he notes. "They have rights now – though some are still being hit – but what kids are fighting for is their right to be young and independent, fighting for their rights to see the world their way," says Simon.

In his fourth calling to perform in East Is East, Simon is enjoying the experience once more. "You have to keep really focused, because every night is fresh and you never know what kind of audience you might get," he says. "Although the laughs are pretty consistent everywhere we go."

East Is East, Grand Opera House, York, Monday to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york