Blue Mist – Royal Court Theatre, London

Writer: Mohamed-Zain Dada

Director: Milli Bhatia

Mohamed-Zain Dada’s Blue Mist at the Royal Court is a cracker of a play, all the more amazing when we learn it’s his debut. The action largely takes place at Chunkyz Shisha Lounge, a wonderful invention, wonderfully created by designer Tomás Palmer, with great sound and lighting from Elena Peña and Elliot Griggs.

We regularly return to this home from home where the play’s three Muslim lads hang out. Their ensemble work is brilliant – the sheer energy of their performances together with the exuberant dialogue is captivating. At first Salman Akhtar nearly steals the show as Asif with his increasingly fabulous story of what happened to Chunky at Ayia Napa. ‘Chunky is on Sufi tings innit,’ he explains. Somehow Chunky is spirited away somewhere strange: ‘Like it was Ottoman times, innit … this huge castle-like mosque in the middle … like the Muslim Hogwarts’.

But Chunky, we discover, is a bit like Godot.

Instead a rush of other stories emerge and Arian Rik as Rashid comes to the fore with terrific imitations of various disapproving uncles at his mosque. Asif and Rashid have innocent ambitions. Rashid works at Heathrow and has a steady girlfriend, Hani. But his dream is to open up a gym: ‘Imagine this yeah: Aunties. Only. Gym. No pervs. No stress about mans looking at you.’ Asif keeps trying to find love, though dating apps let him down. It’s looking good when he takes a girl to Nandos. ‘it was chill. She got a wrap. I thought, great, that’s wifey material.’ But she’s a lawyer, out of his league. Inevitably she ghosts him.

At the heart of the play is diffident Jihad, convincingly played by Omar Bynon. He alone is university-educated. He wants to break into journalism, and berates himself for getting nowhere. The chance comes along when his mates encourage him to apply for a competition to pitch an edgy podcast. There’s a great scene when he tries out by himself a whole series of ludicrous pitches, and we feel he’s finding his voice.

Blue Mist isn’t without its weak spots and, if anything, the central plot of Jihad’s initial success followed by the cynical coercion he experiences doesn’t always convince. But the journey itself is great. Asif and Rashid’s faith in Jihad is touching and it’s they who come up with some of the most imaginative ideas for the competition. Later Akhtar and Rik segue effortlessly into various smooth media types who Jihad comes up against.

Throughout Milli Bhatia’s direction is inspired, not least in fantastic staging of ‘A spoonful of Muslim helps the news go down’ which brings the first act to a close on a raucous high.

But Dada dares to darken the mood as Jihad increasingly considers the serious issues facing young South Asian men. There is real anger between the three of them as events set them at loggerhead. It’s surprisingly touching when Rashid, rather than laughing at quirky folk at the mosque, remembers individual suffering and Asif asks they’ve ever been moved to say a prayer when walking past someone in need.

Despite its faults, Blue Mist is a must-see. And Dada a young playwright to watch out for.

Runs until 18 November 2023