ajhlovestheatre

SPEED 

by Mohamed-Zain Dada

directed by Milli Bhatia

Bush Theatre, London – until 17 May 2025

running time: 90 minutes no interval 

https://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/event/speed/

If you initially think the trio of British Asians in a Birmingham Holiday Inn basement to participate in a course for speeding and aggressive drivers in Mohamed-Zain Dada’s new play, fits a little too neatly into stereotypes then prepare to have your preconceptions blown out of the water. True, in brashly confident CEO Faiza (Shazia Nicholls), the kind of woman who responds with cheery thanks when told she doesn’t look Pakistani, feisty Brummie nurse Harleen (Sabrina Sandhu) and mouthy, streetwise “aspiring entrepreneur” Samir (Arian Nik), Dada presents a set of people that feel familiar, albeit crafted with palpable affection and some laugh-out-loud funny dialogue. But over the course of ninety excoriating minutes, the characters and indeed the play itself undergo satisfying transformations. 

It’s true also that at the outset, with the contrasting “types” and various clanging social faux pas, that Speed is occupying sitcom territory, albeit at the wittier end of the generic spectrum. That impression’s reinforced when the disgraced drivers have to sit through an excruciating motivational video put together by course leader, suited and booted, uber-serious Abz (Nikesh Patel), whose unwittingly hilarious opening gambit is “driving is not a human right, it’s a privilege”. 

There are clues in XANA’s intermittently unsettling sound design and Jessica Hung Han Yun’s changeable lighting that uptight Abz is suffering from some sort of PTSD, and every time he leaves the space he returns slightly more dishevelled than on his last appearance. Patel unravels brilliantly, and Tomás Palmer’s appropriately soulless conference room set springs a few surprises to hasten along his increasing distress. 

Milli Bhatia’s exquisitely judged, bracingly energised production is entirely in tune with the shifts in tone and emphasis, and is wonderfully acted throughout. Nik’s Samir is an endearing combination of bravado and vulnerability, and is helplessly funny right up until the unfolding action takes that possibility away from him. Sandhu fully convinces as a tough but kind young woman juggling family responsibilities and a gruelling job where she’s routinely under appreciated, and delivers sardonic one liners like an old pro.

Thankfully, Dada resists the obvious choice to make money-obsessed go-getter Faiza a nasty piece of work; she’s often crass for sure, and insensitive, and eye-wateringly un-self aware at times (“I think I’m here because I’m misunderstood…I don’t get angry at people, people get angry at me”), but she’s not a monster. In fact, she’s strangely lovable in a toe-curling sort of way. Nicholls is a sublime comic actress and plays her with gimlet-eyed relish, never funnier than when passively aggressively conveying her dismay at having to be present on this mandatory course (“you realise, my absence could have an impact on the economy?”) or pitifully sobbing “I was building generational wealth” when she realises she’s embroiled in something way out of her comfort zone. 

Dada is a cracking writer. The dialogue here is zingy, smart but sensitive, and the building (and breaking down) of characters is beautifully done, as is the manipulation of tension. The play also delivers some uncomfortable truths about what it means to be Asian in present day Britain, and almost miraculously it doesn’t feel grafted on, but genuinely organic. Comic exuberance and trenchant social commentary are larded together with real skill here. The Asian heritage of these four people is never over-amplified but it is an essential part of what Dada has written.

Speed is that rare beast, a comedy thriller that succeeds in being extremely funny and authentically thrilling. It’s crazy, entertaining, mercilessly well observed…and should be at the top of everybody’s list of must-see new plays.