Review: Speed at Bush Theatre

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Four Stars)

Mohamed-Zain Dada’s new play Speed, currently running at the Bush Theatre, is a darkly funny and emotionally charged exploration of anger, identity, and resistance.

Harleen (Sabrina Sandhu), Samir (Arian Nik), and Faiza (Shazia Nicholls) are brought together in the basement of a Holiday Inn in Birmingham for a speed awareness course to avoid losing their driving licences. The course, however, is far from ordinary. Under the banner of the acronym R.U.N.D.I. (Rehabilitating and Unlearning: the National Driving Initiative), instructor Abz (Nikesh Patel) pushes the group through a series of offbeat exercises, from role-play and stress-ball catharsis to guided meditations, all aimed at uncovering the deeper reasons behind their road rage and unsafe driving. But as the group delves deeper into their personal frustrations, the tone darkens. We start to see their anger as more than just individual situations: it’s a response to systemic racism and a society that demands so much and gives so little back. And it's not just the participants confronting their inner fury. Abz, the course’s facilitator, begins to unravel in unexpected ways, leading to a twist that reframes everything we've seen before.

Director Milli Bhatia keeps the energy high and consistent throughout the 90-minute production, making use of the traverse stage to immerse the audience in the action. Tomás Palmer’s set design effectively evokes the budget hotel basement the play is set in: the ill-stocked vending machine; the tired carpet; the flipchart and TV screen on wheels. 

The cast of four is uniformly strong. As Abz, Nikesh Patel progressively becomes more and more agitated, exposing more and more of his real motivations. Sabrina Sandhu’s Harleen captures the exhaustion of an overworked and under-appreciated NHS nurse. As Samir, Arian Nik brings great comedic timing as the class clown who takes any and every opportunity to flirt with Harleen. Shazia Nicholls, as Faiza, embodies a narcissistic “girl-boss” CEO. Each of the characters is layered and nuanced as they progressively uncover more about their own anger over the course of the play. 

Fast-paced, funny, and thrilling, this is a play that doesn’t just examine anger: it harnesses it.

Speed runs at Bush Theatre until 17th May 2025.

Photos by Richard Lakos