Anosh Irani tells a deeply personal story through the sport of cricket in his new play

Author and playwright Anosh Irani has always wanted to write about cricket, but he knew that wasn't enough to sustain an entire piece of work.

"I knew it couldn't be about cricket, it had to be about something else," Irani explains. So when he started thinking about a play that would be about how small the world is and how connected we all are, he suddenly found a space to use cricket to tell a story. 

Irani's play, The Men in White, follows the story of Abdul and his cricket team as they contemplate bringing Abdul's brother Hasan from India to Canada to join their team.

While Irani plays cricket, none of the characters was based on anyone in his life. In fact, that's how he goes about writing in general. 

"I always take things that I've experienced but they're never autobiographical," he says. "I never write about people that I know, but I always draw from real life." 

The Men in White premieres on Feb. 9 at Granville Island Stage in Vancouver, and runs until March 11. For more information, head over to their website.

— Produced by Elaine Chau