Two Billion Beats left me with much to process and reflect on, but one message came through clear: we must crucially examine our understanding of mainstream heroes. Such probing questions may just be a step towards radical social justice. Bouncing with wit, Sonali Bhattacharyya’s upbeat new play is a coming-of-age story about the unfairness of growing up in a world where you don’t make the rules. A blazing account of inner city British-Asian teenage life, this exhilarating world premiere asks what the cost of speaking up really is.

Strictly speaking, Two Billion Beats is not a two-hander. The hamster appears in the fur towards the end of the play, but is sadly uncredited. Whoever you are, you did a bang-up job. The play moves swiftly between many themes – racism, Islamophobia, intergenerational dialogue, sibling and parent/child relationships, political awakening, history – but these are woven together seamlessly and never feel jarring or overwhelming. The characters are not merely vehicles for political statements. Instead the play authentically captures an era in which coming of age is often synonymous with developing a progressive political stance. Duru invokes the girls’ landscape with minimal details – a bus-stop bench and a school ‘Main Entrance’ sign. Apparently the school is ‘outstanding in all areas’. The teachers do work hard. When Bettina interrupts a lesson on climate change with a question about asylum seekers (only ‘to look badass’) her teacher takes her seriously and gives her a book about Malala. You do realise, however, that school is sometimes a blunt instrument. Mrs L tells Ash to ‘draw examples from her own experience’ – Gandhi and Ambedkar being suitable. The essay on Sylvia Pankhurst is less successful – but is that really because she was a white woman, as Ash believes, or because Ash hasn’t fully understood her views? The elder girl, Ascha, has a problem nearer home; at home, in fact. It is her mother. While Ascha is a clever and motivated student, she has offended her deeply by daring to take issue with Gandhi.

Two Billion Beats follows Asha (Safiyya Ingar), a bright sixth former set on attending SOAS, as her assignments lead her to discover the work of Dalit lawyer and activist B.R. Ambedkar and begin to question her mother’s idolisation of Mahatma Gandhi. Meanwhile, Asha navigates school bullying and racism along with her younger sister, Bettina (Anoushka Chadha).

In Bhattacharyya’s entertaining play, two teenage sisters negotiate the battlefield of school while learning about the political battlefields of the past.” The Stage on Two Billion Beats as part of Inside/OutsideThis timely and thoughtful new play from Sonali Bhattacharyya…compellingly shows that the stakes can be high when people – especially women – from a diaspora community raise their voices” WhatsOnStage She’s a don! I’ll be completely frank – I wasn’t aware of her work before this project. People of colour in this industry have to hustle and make our voices heard, so when I met her for the first time and she was like a Muslim Hijabi woman, I was like: I’m working with the best here, with the people that I need and I want to work with. This timely and thoughtful new play from Sonali Bhattacharyya…compellingly shows that the stakes can be high when people – especially women – from a diaspora community raise their voices.” WhatsOnStage

I know so many people, not just women, whatever your gender, if you’re part of the diaspora community, come and see this. You’ll have something from your own community that will reflect and ping out as an argument you constantly need to have, or a slur you’re constantly called, or a question you’re constantly confronted with about Britain’s history. We are now really having these frank conversations about how distressing they were, how disgusting they were, how they created generational trauma. And it isn’t going to just wash away – this denial of the British empire and what they did to our countries and these communities, it needs to be spoken about, and attitudes need to change! How have rehearsals been going so far? There are articles in the show’s programme about B. R. Ambedkar (1891-1956), an Indian social reformer who spoke out against discriminatory policies affecting what were then known as ‘the Untouchables’ within Indian society, and about Sylvia Pankhurst (1882-1960), a British campaigner for the suffragette movement. The storyline makes clear why some biographical details are set out, and there are some interesting outcomes on Asha’s part as she tries to apply what she’s learned to her own circumstances.Bouncing with wit, Sonali Bhattacharyya’s upbeat play is a coming-of-age story about the unfairness of growing up in a world where you don’t make the rules. Sonali Bhattacharyya was 2018 Channel 4 writer in residence at the OT, where she wrote Chasing Hares, winning the Sonia Friedman Production Award and Theatre Uncut Political Playwriting Award, produced at the Young Vic in 2022. The younger sister, Bettina – Year Ten to Ascha’s Year Thirteen – can be seen as a victim of this fall-out. All she wants is for Ascha to be on the bus home with her so that she doesn’t have to receive the unwelcome, even bullying, attentions of Adil and his mates. The function of heroes within an intrinsically racist society once again arises in Asha’s own relationship with Gandhi. She wonders whether her teacher is more comfortable with her writing critically on Gandhi and Ambedkar, ‘two brown dudes’, than on revered British heroine-figures the Pankhursts. This does not deter Asha, however, from adding Sylvia Pankhurst’s work to the mix as she strives to find her own political voice. A two-handed coming of age story set in the round, about many things, but most notably accepting the nuanced flaws of individuals. Written by young award-winning playwright Sonali Bhattacharyya, the play maintains her focus on illuminating the stories of the marginalised and democratising dramatization. It delves into numerous topical and ethical questions of morality and our selection of role models. It aims to prescribe and confront too many contemporary societal issues, sometimes without forming the full necessary space for their exploration. Anoushka Chadha is a visibly younger and more naïve Bettina, who idolises her older sister. She holds no discernible political view; her world is contained within her home and school. Chadha exhibits many recognisable physical traits of a young girl; her fingers worry at the ends of her sleeves; she constantly shuffles her feet. Even the manner in which her voice often slides into a higher pitch is very convincing.