My Beautiful Laundrette Screening & Discussion with Actor Gordon Warnecke

Sun 26 February 2023

Wolfson College

Wolfson College is pleased to offer this exciting opportunity to watch and discuss the award winning film My Beautiful Laundrette with co-star Gordon Warnecke.

This event is open to all, and tea and cake will be provided for the audience.
Entry is £5 per person on the door, or free for Wolfson students with their College card.

This event is organised by the Wolfson College Student Association.


My Beautiful Laundrette was ground-breaking in its bold exploration of issues of sexuality, race, class and generational difference. It also sparked controversy, particularly within the Asian community.

The film highlights a dilemma at the heart of the immigrant experience - the desire to belong to Western society while maintaining a clear sense of Pakistani identity. The two brothers, Nasser and Papa, demonstrate this cultural conflict. An ardent intellectual socialist, Papa belongs to old school Pakistan because, like most first generation immigrants, he believes fervently in education combating racism and is vehemently against the greed and conservative economics of Thatcherism.

Screenwriter Hanif Kureishi develops characters for who they are rather than what they represent, and while he may dislike his character's actions, it is evident that he is fascinated by their humanity. It is for this reason that we are able to grasp the underlying truths of My Beautiful Laundrette, often ambiguous and contradictory, sometimes obscure, but hauntingly resonant, even today.


Gordon Warnecke played the co-lead with Daniel Day-Lewis in My Beautiful Laundrette and has also appeared in Franco Zeffirelli’s Young Toscanini as well as the Canadian feature film, Venus and recently Dearest Amena and Goldfish.

Gordon has worked extensively in Theatre, Film and Television. Stage work includes a season with the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Royal Court Theatre and various touring theatre productions as well as a recent stage version of My Beautiful Laundrette where he played the role of Papa at the Curve Theatre in Leicester before touring.

TV credits include Boon, Eastenders, The Bill, Brookside, Only Fools And Horses, Birds Of A Feather, Dr Who’ and ‘A Fatal Inversion’ by Barbara Vine, ‘Puppy Love’, Holby City and most recently Top Boy.

When he is not acting, Gordon writes and directs short films.

Cost: £5