TWENTY years after Meera Syal wrote her debut novel, Anita and Me, it has been adapted into a lively stage musical.

“I wrote it thinking, ‘This is a story I’d really like to tell but I don’t know if anyone is going to find it interesting and funny’,” says Meera.

“It’s always gratifying when people not only get it but also that it means something to them.”

What does she see as the key themes of the coming-of-age story, about a girl growing up in the only Punjab family in a West Midlands mining village?

“Friendship is one of them. Even the people who hurt you, one can learn something from,” says Meera.

“As children, friendships are very formative. Meena hero worships Anita, but she discovers that actually she’s stronger than her. She stops wanting to become somebody else. I think that’s a good message to send out to anyone growing up because we all go through that phase where we feel we’re not cool enough, not thin enough, not popular enough, and actually it’s Meena’s differences that prove to be her passport out of that little town.”

Two decades on, are there the same culture clashes?

“I grew up in a very white area and went to a white school and a white university. Now, in any big city, children will integrate. A lot of us grow up not fearing other cultures but surrounded by them and learning from them, but there are pockets of Britain where that still doesn’t happen.”

Meera says the story works well as a musical.

“You feel the pain and joy of this little community that starts off almost isolated from the world then ends up completely invaded by it. It’s representative of a dying working-class life that I felt privileged to be part of,” she says.”What happens to Meena is dealt with in a real, tender way.”

The production, starring former Coronation Street actress Shobna Gulati, features local actors around the country.

“It makes people invested in the production,” says Meera.

“It also gives an opportunity to the fantastic am-dram people who give their heart and soul to doing something they love. They bring a joy to it that wakes up the rest of us jaded actors who do it for a job.”

Growing up near Wolverhampton, Meera’s first taste of theatre was a pantomime.

“I was about four. I remember a fairy appearing on the balcony and just thinking it was the most magical thing in the world. The whole smell and feel of a theatre just felt like home to me.

"It was bewitching, that’s why it’s important to take kids to the theatre. Those memories imprint on your brain; the magic of live drama, being able to see the actors so close you can see the sweat on their brows and the make-up running. I’m still excited by it, actually.”

Anita and Me is produced by the Tourism Consortium Theatre Company, bringing quality drama to regional audiences. “This is a very specific regional story but one that applies to so many communities,” says Meera.

“It will have a lot more resonance for those rural and mining communities that were changed so much in the 80s and 90s.”

How much of Meera is in Meena?

“There was a girl in the village I hero-worshipped. I embroidered the truth but the setting is very accurate to where I grew up,” says Meera.

“I hope audiences come away understanding the value of connecting with people. We all love, we all feel pain and have friendships we remember for the rest of our lives. Those formative friendships, however painful, make you who you are.”

  • Anita and Me runs at the Alhambra from March 21 to 25. Call 01274 432000.

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