The Bite Magazine - Spring/Summer 2025 - Issue 37

bitetheatre like a woose. However, she is remorseful. “It’s a slippery slope that takes someone from road rage to a prison cell.” Abz takes the group through another ex- ercise: the assumption circle, in which they must judge each other as though meeting each other for the first time. It is through this exercise that Samir’s car incident story is aired. We learn he has a prior reputation as a drag racer, and the incident caught him travelling at over 100 mph. “You don’t know the full story.” His story of racial slurs and threats of vi- olence towards him and his cousin draws empathy from the rest of the group (and us!). However, Abz’s retort to how Samir reacted to the incident has the group con- front himon how he, given his shared race, would have reacted. He flusters before of- fering an answer, and the hum and light flicker again, indicating his trickling ina- bility to keep it together. A guided medi- tation exercise occurs as Abz experiences yet another hum and light glitch. They are getting more frequent and intense! At this point, the play takes on a weird turn as he opens the kitchenette’s shutters, and stress balls pour out under blue lighting while under stress. He calls lunch and leaves to get sandwiches for the group. Once again, his absence has the group bond, concluding Abz is unstable, and they share their mistrust. After lunch, role play has Harleen reveal her burst of anger that cost her points on her licence. Her empathetic story of working a 14- hour shift and getting blamed for losing two patients made her forget her coat at the hospital and quickly run back for it. Back at her car, she had gotten a ticket. She was fuming! It is perfectly under- standable for an average person’s level of emotions. However, she threatened to run the parking attendant over and chased him on his moped. “I will follow a man to his yard and f*** sh** him up if I have to.” Abz points out that they all need to ad- dress this level of anger to remain calm, but it’s taking a while to recognise this line of behaviour. The play takes on a rapid turn of events from this point on. Abz leaves the room again, and Harleen threatens to leave but realises they are all locked in. Bewildered at why they would be held against their will, Faiza frantically but finally locks into a local Wi-Fi and checks her emails. One of them is from DVLA, apologising for the cancellation of the session she is in. When Abz returns, they set on him and question his integrity. The electrical humming and light quivering get intense. Samir confronts him, and they get into a scuffle; all the while, Abz tries to take the group through a countdown exercise. I tell you, it’s all quite weirdly intense but cleverly funny! “You don’t know what’s good for you, do you? You silly, silly boy.” Faiza joins in the brawl, jumping on Abz’s back as Harleen picks up his KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON mug. She smashes it over his head and knocks him uncon- scious. Oh! They panic as Abz lies on the floor, bleeding. The irony of the situation is hard-hitting to us in the audience, and there was a united gasp from us all. Har- leen bandages him up but then decides to tie him up before he wakes up. Faiza doesn’t have any of this and threatens to inform the police until she is reminded that she was part of it, too. Abz falls in and out of consciousness whilst talking gibberish, but once he is fully awake, they interrogate him, confis- cating his phone and realising DVLA has called him several times during the ses- sion. Further threats to expose him made him confess that his program was can- celled that morning. But with things not adding up, they all turn on him, throwing all the words he used on them throughout the session at him. He protests that he is doing this for their good and trying to save them. More pres- sure from them has him disclose the driv- ing incident that resulted in him having to bury his wife. As they push him to relay the story, there are obvious combined similarities of their own stories woven into his. He confesses not listening to his wife, begging him to calm down before it was too late, and a lorry smashed into them. “It’s like I’m haunted by it. If I could save one person from doing what I did.” This revelation finally gives reason to the electrical humming and light glitches and why he is adamant about keeping them there despite the cancellation. The collec- tive audience sighs in relief. Now they get it! Now we get it! The group, however, la- bel him pathetic. He protests about choos- ing each of them because of their race due to societal profiling and wants to change at least one of them. They don’t care as they deem him the angriest in that room. “Trying to change us is not gonna change what happened, and it’s not gonna bring her back.” They walk out individually, but before leaving, Harleen can’t help but be the nurse and advises him to get his head checked out. Abz is left alone, with the humming and light glitching before the total lights go down. Despite being a play about a heavy topic, the writer’s clever infusion of humour, in- trigue, and character relatability had this resonate as an enjoyable evening at the theatre. The intelligent observations of humanity, albeit focused on Asian culture and a weird sprinkling of the absurd, made it attractive to want to see more from this writer and director duo. I left the theatre deep in reflection about my projection of anger, my triggers, and my tolerance levels to people’s behaviour around me. It was a curry pot of food for thought served with a side of Desi Dahi for easy consumption. Please visit the website to learn what’s happening this season at Bush Theatre. https://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/whats-on/