Two Billion Beats

Seventeen-year-old Asha is an empathetic rebel, inspired by historical revolutionaries and iconoclasts Sylvia Pankhurst and B R Ambedkar. She’s unafraid of pointing out the hypocrisy around her but less sure how to actually dismantle it. Meanwhile, her younger sister, Bettina, wide-eyed and naïve, is just trying to get through the school day without getting her pocket money nicked. When Bettina turns to her for help, Asha starts to ask what standing up for her political beliefs really looks like. Between essays, homework and bus journeys home the two sisters meet outside the school gates each afternoon, smarting at the injustice of the world around them and wondering how they can make it better.

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.

Livestream Thu Feb 24 at 19:30. On Demand Mar 8-11