Two Billion Beats at The Orange Tree Theatre

Nimmo Ismail and Tian Brown-Sampson will direct Shala Nyx (Asha) and Tanvi Virmani (Bettina) in the return of the production following its acclaimed world premiere at the Orange Tree Theatre in 2022.

It opens on 24 January with previews from 20 January and runs until 4 February 2023. 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.

Seventeen-year-old Asha is an empathetic rebel, inspired byhistorical revolutionaries andiconoclasts Sylvia Pankhurst and B R Ambedkar. She’s unafraid of pointing out the hypocrisyaround her but less sure how to actually dismantle it

Meanwhile, her younger sister, Bettina, wide-eyed and naïve, is just trying to get through theschool day without getting her pocket money nicked. When Bettina turns to her for help, Ashastarts to ask what standing up for her political beliefs really looks like.

Safiyya Ingar and Anoushka Chadha in Two Billion Beats

Sonali Bhattacharyya is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter whose productions include Megaball (National Theatre Learning), Slummers (Cardboard Citizens/Bunker Theatre), 2066 (Almeida Theatre), The Invisible Boy (Kiln Theatre) and White Open Spaces (Pentabus Theatre).

Two Billion Beats at The Orange Tree Theatre

20 January – 4 February 2023

Mon – Sat 7.30pm Thu & Sat 2.30pm (from 26 Jan)

Captioned Performance: Fri 3 Feb 7.30pm Audio Described Performance: Thu 2 Feb 7.30pm.

Distanced Performances: Thu 2 Feb 7:30pm Fri 3 Feb 7:30pm Post Show Talk & Patrons’ Evening: Tue 31 Jan 7.30pm.

1 Clarence Street, Richmond, TW9 2SA

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