Preview: Too Close To Home, Library Theatre, Manchester

"This is a play about people who have something inside them that sparks - a need to do something drastic," explains Rani Moorthy.

The Malaysian-born playwright came to Britain in 1996 and within two years she'd formed Rasa, the vibrant Manchester-based theatre company. Last year, Curry Tales, Moorthy's deliciously funny culinary drama, was a triumph.

Moorthy's follow-up, Too Close to Home, is more weighty. The drama centres on a Muslim family in Greater Manchester who gather at Ramadan to pray and break the fast. The youngest son hides a rucksack, and in the course of a long day's journey into night family conflict erupts.

"Young Muslim men give this impression of being really contemporary and settled," says Moorthy. "But there's this hidden world of the 'indoors', where they're sometimes drawn back to several hundred years of family and socio-political history.

"You read about how families have harboured criminals, much less terrorists, and you often think, 'How could they not notice?'" says Moorthy. "And how could neighbours say, 'Oh, he was a great guy,' and, 'I can't believe he's done this.' That was the starting point."

Moorthy, who plays the family matriarch, has a strong desire to subvert stereotypes of Muslim home life. "I want people to realise that this family could be our neighbours and they're not to be dismissed. This is happening to people struggling to be as British as they can and also trying to hang on to something."

Moorthy was keen to make the characters engaging and honest. In the past, she has auditioned for roles as first-generation immigrant women and they've largely come across as ciphers. "The mother is the earthy, larger-than-life glue that holds the family together," she says. "One good thing to come from Jack Straw's comments is that, veiled or not, the beauty, warmth and generosity of Muslim women has come to the fore."

14 to 18 November (0161-236 7110; www.librarytheatre.com)