The Bite Magazine - Spring/Summer 2025 - Issue 37

bitetheatre personality he’d previously shown. “We survived, Liz Truss; I’m sure we’ll be ok.” As such, when Abz leaves the group to bond a bit, Harleen slowly emerges from her shell. A conversation about the necessity and importance of driving is held. The origins of their heritages are revealed, highlighting subtle culturist prejudices regarding their locations. They are all South Asian. This clever revelation of territory prejudices within the same culture is the foundation for specific anger triggers later revealed in the play. It may be why Faiza persistent- ly insists that she’s from St. Alban’s, and we learn she made a pitch on Dragon’s Den. They laugh over the concept, and she dishes dirty secrets of the CEOs on Dragon’s Den, much to the delight of the other two, who are now bonding even more with the shared gossip. When Abz returns, an electric hum and a flicker of lights arise that only he can hear, causing him considerable stress. From the audience’s point of view, this is intriguing: why can only Abz and ourselves see and hear that? How com- posed is this man? It is a clever pull-in to the story as the play moves on. Abz confronts the group with the reasons why they speed. They each come up with frivolous yet everyday reasons, including weaving in and out of traffic due to impatience and getting carried away with the music when driving. Abz offers statistics and advice to defy some of the group. “Try something next time you’re in the car; turn on Classic FM for a change. See how that feels.” Slowly getting frustrated with the group, Abz tells each one some home truths: Faiza is in denial, Samir is the class clown, and Harleen is antagonistic. Again, each protests this judgement, but I quietly nod to myself and hear a couple of ‘Uhn-uhn’s from the closer audience members. That was bang on! Despite trying to hold it together, Abz slowly starts to slip and tells Samir to be quiet in one of his nonsensical quips. How- ever, he raises a great point about how Britain’s iconic WWII slogan is some- thing they should remember as its true culture. “Keep Calm and Carry On.” Ironically, Abz gets more frustrated in this forum and breaks another group rule by swearing because he’s forgotten a quote. The electrical hum and light quiv- er happen again, much to his distress (and our amusement/concern/intrigue). As the session progresses and they touch on topics like insurance, national statis- tics and reasons for anger using a stress ball thrown back and forth, we get an in- sight into the issues that cause Abz stress and the lives of each (a lot of man-bash- ing by the women). He encourages them to pick up the tempo and really ‘squeeze and throw’ (the ball) out their deepest anger topics and issues. Many are fun- ny; most are relatable and purely out- rageous. “Anger is more likely to do me more harm than you wrong.” With the tempo rising, Faiza finally shouts the integral reason for her an- gered driving incident. Abz stops the exercise and has her share the story. Being cheated out of £400K is an issue that makes your blood boil! As she re- lates the tale of car-chasing her cheating business partner in central London and the rage she feels leading to remortgag- ing her flat, the group members egg her on. The group are on her side; WE are on her side! How dare he just run away L-R Sabrina Sandhu (Harleen), Arian Nik (Samir), Nikesh Patel (Abz), Shazia Nicholls (Faiza)