zain dada – Hamza Jahanzeb

(Photo credit: Arian Nik by David Reiss, Shazia Nicholl by James Corrigan)

A nurse, a delivery driver, and an entrepreneur walk into a speed awareness course…

Abz is the UK’s leading expert on road safety and the most in-demand course facilitator north of the M25.

In an entirely average hotel basement somewhere in Birmingham, three speedsters are summoned to his class with a choice: change your ways or lose your licence.

But a routine training course quickly veers into a tumultuous group therapy session as they are forced to confront the real question: why are you all so angry?

The full cast and creative team of the Bush Theatre’s play Speed – described as a break-neck journey through the daily annoyances and deep-buried secrets that leave us spinning – have been announced.

Hilarious and heartfelt, this world premiere production reunites writer Mohamed-Zain Dada and director Milli Bhatia after the wild success of the Olivier Award-nominated, Blue Mist (Royal Court). The cast is Arian Nik, Shazia Nicholls, Nikesh Patel, and Sabrina Sandhu.

Speed

Written by Mohamed-Zain Dada

Directed by Milli Bhatia

Set and Costume Designer – Tomás Palmer

Sound Designer – XANA

Lighting Designer – Jessica Hung Han Yun

Movement Director – Theophilus Bailey

Fight Director – Bret Yount

Cast – Arian Nik, Shazia Nicholls, Nikesh Patel, Sabrina Sandhu

4 April – 17 May 2025

Monday – Saturday at 7.30 pm

Wednesday matinees – 16, 23, 30 April, 1, 7, 14 May at 2.30 pm

Saturday matinees – 12, 19, 26 April, 3, 10, 17 May at 2.30 pm

Relaxed performances – Saturday 19 April, 2.30 pm & Thursday 8 May 7.30 pm

Captioned performances – Wednesday 23 April, 7.30 pm & Saturday 3 May 2.30 pm

Audio-described performances and touch tours – Saturday 26 April 2.30 pm & Thursday 1 May 7.30 pm

Milli Bhatia is a stage, screen, and radio director, and dramaturg from East London. She is an Associate Artist at Synergy and was Associate Director at The Royal Court Theatre. Before this, she was a Trainee Director and then a Literary Associate at The Royal Court, Associate Artist at The Bush Theatre, Resident Assistant Director at Birmingham Rep and Creative Associate at The Gate Theatre. Her training includes The National Theatre Director’s Programme, and The Old Vic 12.

Milli is a two-time Olivier Award nominee, for her productions of seven methods of killing kylie jenner and Blue Mist, both premiered at The Royal Court Theatre. She has also been nominated for Off West End Awards, Visionary Arts Awards, EE Awards, and Asian Media Awards, and her work has received West End and international transfers, including to The Public Theater NYC, Woolly Mammoth DC, Riksteatern and The Swedish Biennale (Dramaten). Her work in theatre also includes Chasing Hares (Young Vic), King Troll (The Fawn) (New Diorama), My White Best Friend and Other Letters Left Unsaid (Royal Court/Bunker), Macbeth:Something Wicked (Donmar tour), Liberation Squares (Nottingham Playhouse/Brixton House/National tour), Dismantle This Room (Bush Theatre/Royal Court), Maryland and Baghdaddy (Royal Court).

Mohamed-Zain Dada, who goes by the name Zain, is a playwright and screenwriter. His first writing credit, Emily (Glitched) In Paris was for the Royal Court Theatre’s Living Newspaper series in March 2021. He is an alumnus of BBC Drama Room’s 2022-23 cohort and NFTS x Left Bank Pictures’ inaugural Diverse Writer’s Room Programme 2024. Zain’s debut play, Blue Mist premiered at the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court Theatre in October 2023 to four and five-star reviews and was nominated for an Olivier Award. His second play,Dizzy premiered at the Sheffield Playhouse (co-produced by Theatre Centre).

Shazia Nicholls plays Faiza. Shazia has just finished performing as Mrs Quickly in The Merry Wives of Windsor directed by Blanche McIntyre for The Royal Shakespeare Company. Before arriving in Stratford Shazia starred in The Duchess of Malfi for The Globe at The Sam Wanamaker Theatre and The Inquiry at Chichester Festival Theatre. Screenwise, Shazia recently wrapped Alfonso Cuarón’s latest series Disclaimer for AppleTV+ opposite Cate Blanchett and HeYeon Jung. Prior to this, Shazia was on stage in Margaret Perry’s Oliver award-nominated play Paradise Now! at the Bush Theatre. She can be seen in Peter Kosminsky’s, Darkness Rising, and Call the Midwife for the BBC. She is perhaps best known for her role in the critically acclaimed series, Dr Foster opposite Suranne Jones. Other credits include The National Theatre’s Antony and Cleopatra, The Winter’s Tale, and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth.

Arian Nik plays Samir. Arian trained at Mountview Academy. Theatre credits include: Blue Mist (Royal Court), Sokhan Begoo (Royal Court), Kabul Goes Pop: Music Television Afghanistan (Brixton House), and The Village (Stratford East). TV and Film credits include: Daddy Issues (BBC), Film Club (BBC), Missing You (Netflix), Passenger(ITV), Count Abdulla (ITV), Giant (AGC Studios), Allelujah (Pathé), andArtemis Fowl (Disney).

Nikesh Patel plays Abz. He stars in the upcoming Amazon feature film Picture This as ‘Akshay’ opposite Simone Ashley. He also recently starred in the second season of The Devil’s Hour for Amazon. Other recent highlights include series 3 of the BBC/HBO hit show Starstruck, playing the lead role of ‘Tom Kapoor’ opposite Rose Matefeo and in the feature film The Critic directed by Anand Tucker. Other highlights include ‘Kash’ in Mindy Kaling’s ten-part Four Weddings and a Funeral(Hulu) and ‘Foaly’ in feature film Artemis Fowl, directed by Kenneth Branagh (Disney). Nikesh trained at the Guildhall School of Drama and was named one of the 2010 Screen’s UK Stars of Tomorrow.

Sabrina Sandhu plays Harleen. Sabrina trained at the Television Workshop. Her television credits include The Syndicate (BBC), Dodger(BBC/NBC Universal), Maternal (ITV), and the guest lead in Not Going Out for the BBC. Most recently, she starred in the critically acclaimedDinosaur (BBC/HULU) by Two Brothers, and the second series of the smash hit We Are Lady Parts (Working Title). On stage, Sabrina’s credits include Pritti Pasha in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie at the Apollo in London’s West End, I Dare You at the Nottingham Playhouse/Leicester Curve, If We Were Older for the National Theatre and East Is East for the Nottingham Playhouse. Sabrina has worked on several projects for BBC Radio and won the Best Debut Performance award at the BBC Audio Drama Awards for her work onBlack Eyed Girls (BBC Radio 4).

Speed is generously supported by Charles Holloway OBE.

Tickets

Tickets for Speed are priced from £25 (concessions available), with £15 ‘Count Me In’ seats available at every performance and can be booked at bushtheatre.co.uk or the Box Office on 020 8743 5050.

With a Bush Theatre season ticket, the more shows you book, the more you save.

Bush Theatre members get the best benefits, including discounts on tickets and savings at the bar. Free memberships are available for under 30s, students and local residents. See the Bush Theatre’s website for details.

“Shisha lounges are an essential part of the Muslim experience bruv, like the Fillet o Fish”

To begin with, I want to commend the theatre programmer at the Royal Court for transforming the set of Blue Mist into a “Shisha Lounge”. For those who are not familiar with them, it’s a common hang-out place for those of the (primarily-but-not-exclusive-to) Islamic faith and they often have circular seats, or perhaps a square with a centre table and with shisha (sometimes also known as hookah, or narghile) pipes being smoked by small groups. Now, walking into Chunky’z – which took me back to memories of being on Wilmslow road in Manchester , Pasha’s in Bradford (which is mentioned in the dialogue) or Edgware Road in London – showcased the fine attention to detail from this team’s creative process. The very playlist that you hear as you enters is exactly the same experience you’d experience walking into the lounge. The crowd, filtering in in their droves, took their seats and I was really intrigued by what looked like an electronic pipe centre-piece, and then suddenly the name of the play makes sense to me: the flavour popular among young(er) people. The title “Blue Mist” is a flavour that’s used in the shisha pipes, and is commonly tasting of ‘blueberry with a certain cooling effect of mint’. I was ready to be cooled as I felt the whole ambience was on fire already (due to the thumping music blaring out) and yet the real main event hadn’t even begun.

Asif, (also known as ‘Sif), Jihad and Rashid are three friends who are living in a close-knit community and they visit Chunky’z to wind down after a day of work and to escape the nagging pressures that come from within the domestic environment. It’s a ‘safe space’ for the men to simply be themselves; they let off steam, joke among one another and provide each other to discuss topics that affect them in a frank manner. Of course, there’s one thing uniting them and that’s their faith. They are very much all dreaming of their next project: Rashid would like to set up a gym business, Jihad is hoping for a career in journalism and Asif is the often overlooked one of the trio.

The central dialogue is pretty much perfect, from an authenticity perspective. I can’t express how wondrous it was to see my very own culture reflected on a London stage; and it felt so believable, engaged me from the very start of this piece. The creative team having done their research makes the viewing a truly captivating one. Bhatia’s exceptional direction in the opening scene in particular, guided by the movement director on For Black Boys created a powerful entrance for our three protagonists. Tomás Palmer’s complimentary – yet never compromising – set is brightly delightful, and only enhances the action.

Finally, the delivery of Zain Dada’s writing zings not only on the page but also in practice. The creative team’s study of the language, in particular the Punjabi and English make this a searing watch, and takes you deep into the world of the endearing trio. One of my favourite examples, was the reference to each other as ‘yaara’ (a term of endearment meaning companion) to the jokes about the state of affairs in the UK. I enjoyed how there’s “men” who are just confidently being themselves in a world where they do get short shrift.

In short, get yourself to the Royal Court to witness a fine display of brotherly love; the tenderness amongst the characters, and the fully realised plot make this a brilliant show that deserves more credit amongst theatre-types and the layperson alike. I look forward to what Dada and Bhatia smoke up next, their partnership is truly some to herald as a welcome change to the usually stuffy Royal Court.

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