Speed
24 Apr 2025Size: 198mm x 129mm
24 Apr 2025
Speed
Paperback
£10.99£8.79
Ebook
£10.99£8.79
Bush Theatre, London
From Fri 4 Apr 2025 to Sat 17 May 2025
In a hotel basement somewhere in Birmingham, three people – a nurse, a delivery driver and an entrepreneur – are attending a speed-awareness course to address their aggressive driving.
Abz, a leading expert on road safety and the most in-demand course facilitator north of the M25, presents them with a choice: change your ways, or lose your licence. But the training course quickly veers into a tumultuous group-therapy session as they are forced to confront the real question: why are we all so angry?
Mohamed-Zain Dada's play Speed is a breakneck journey through the daily annoyances and deep-buried secrets that leave us spinning. Wickedly comic and darkly thrilling, it was first performed at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2025, directed by Milli Bhatia.
'I don't get angry, people get angry at me. In fact, I've only ever sworn once in a car… in English.'
'Breathtaking... unexpectedly thrilling'
Time Out'Bristles with humour and snarls with home truths... cements Dada as an audacious new talent... Just as in Blue Mist, Dada delivers complex ideas with a light touch so that there is no jarring didacticism. Of course, it is about so much more than speeding and road rage. Blasting through at 90 minutes, it maintains its smile for a long time but ends with bared teeth'
Guardian'A funny, smartly original play that explores huge issues'
Financial Times'Fast-paced, intense and thrilling... a brilliant play. Dada expertly balances the rapid shifts between comedy and drama while exploring everything from racial profiling and identity to trauma and repressed emotions... Each character is distinct, authentic, and effortlessly funny... powerful, hilarious and thought-provoking'
WhatsOnStage'The kind of thing that a young Alan Ayckbourn might have written if he were making his way in the 21st-century inner city, splicing everyday dialogue with a darkly quizzical take on human foibles... snaps and fizzes and keeps nudging you off-balance... defies easy categorisation... a fever dream for our multicultural times'
The Times'Light-footed... Dada's drama seems to be straightforwardly about driving fast. It twists into something different; a shrewd look at too-swift assumptions and insidious racism'
Observer'A play with heart, wit, humour, and humanity'
All That Dazzles'A biting comedy satire... both a critique of Britishness and a subversive twist on Asian stereotypes... a clever, witty script that pushes its characters to their limits, out of their comfort zones and delivers some bizarre and absurd thrills en route... no one leaves unscathed in this sharp and contemporary comedy of manners'
Reviews Hub'Speed awareness has never been this emotionally charged - or this funny'
West End Best Friend'A genuine, always-engaging surprise: 80 clearsighted minutes, no interval, that cross the finish line with ease'
London Theatre'Arguably the most entertaining speed awareness course you will ever witness... a clever play dashes from laugh-a-minute comedy to something far more detailed and sophisticated'
Liam O'Dell24 Apr 2025Size: 198mm x 129mm
24 Apr 2025
