'Disgraced' feels urgent and relevant post-Woolwich

What you need to knowThe hit US play Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar has received its UK premiere at the Bush Theatre, London. It won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for drama.

Set in contemporary New York, Disgraced tells the story of successful corporate lawyer, Amir Kapoor, and his artist wife, Emily. Their seemingly charmed lives begin to unravel when a dinner party in their Upper East Side apartment reveals Amir's hidden ethnic and religious identity.

Nadia Fall directs Hari Dhillon (Holby City) as Amir and Kirsty Bushell as Emily. With Danny Ashok (Four Lions). Until 22 June.

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What the critics like"A powerful, challenging, deftly crafted work," Disgraced explores race, culture and what it means to be Muslim in post-9/11 America, says Patricia Nicol in the Sunday Times. It's a clever, gripping modern American tragedy.

It's a superb production of "a tough, compelling play", says Michael Billington in The Guardian. Its central concern with exposing the dangers of denying one's racial and religious inheritance gains added urgency as apparently jihadist-inspired violence returns to our streets.

"Disgraced is an urgent, relevant play and worthy winner of 2013's Pulitzer Prize for drama," says Dominic Cavendish in the Daily Telegraph. Following the sickening act of terror in Woolwich, it feels bluntly necessary and if it's only a step in the right direction towards a full and frank discussion about these issues, at least it's a step.

What they don't like"Nadia Fall's production is absorbing, but suffers from excessively long and portentous scene changes," says Henry Hitchins in the Evening Standard. Disgraced calls to mind David Mamet at his most rivetingly ruthless, but the plot feels a touch contrived.