Following on from the success of Blue Mist at the Royal Court, Speed reunites writer Mohamed-Zain Dada and director Milli Bhatia in a story set at a DVLA course for reckless drivers.
Faiza (Shazia Nicholls) is an insecure executive from St Albans worrying about a new deal. Harleen (Sabrina Sandhu) is an overworked nurse from Birmingham, while Samir (Arian Nik) is a wide boy from Harehills.
When they find themselves in a nondescript hotel basement (set design by Tomás Palmer) with a fish tank, canteen window, vending machine and flip chart, all seems mundane. Abz (Nikesh Patel) is the course leader, at first businesslike and practical, but is that the whole story?
Speed is amusing and unsettling, with its flickering lights (designer Jessica Hung Han Yun) and occasional shocks. A note in the playscript explains that what Abz experiences now and then is a dissociative space of past trauma, where time is suspended.
This was something I didn’t quite connect with, noting the oddness of Abz’s behaviour but not truly understanding Dada’s intention. Setting the play on a traverse stage also has its pros and cons. It allows a focused exit point (a pair of fire doors) but also has tricky sightlines from some seats.
The participants of the DVLA course are all British-Asian by origin and somewhat stereotypical – the overachiever, the boy racer, the carer. Speed explores their perceptions of themselves and others through increasingly odd group exercises.
Although there are some solid ideas here about racial profiling, driving behaviour, and human weakness, Speed drifts without a focused aim to its inevitable conclusion. It considers our approach to authority, success, and convention but could benefit from a touch more absurdity.
Some of the throwaway lines about ‘Ronnie Pickering’ (road rage on YouTube) and the Leeds gyratory system (a notable nightmare) are enjoyable, but Speed doesn’t quite mesh enough between the real and the imaginary.
3 stars from me.
Speed continues at Bush Theatre until 17 May – details here.
Image credit: Richard Lakos