Writer: Behkam Salehani
Director: Amari Harris
The quality of this year’s Peckham Fringe has been exceptional, and Behkam Salehani’s Manchester Drive playing at the Canada Water Theatre might prove to be the best show of the month-long festival. With a few revisions and a snip here and there, it definitely has a future, and with its themes of rap and political responsibility, would fit right into somewhere like Soho Theatre’s programming. Salehani’s play is smart, current, important.
It’s not set in Peckham, however. It’s set in Ladbroke Grove, where every young man wants to be the next Central Cee. Ardz would like to be a UK Driller, but his parents, who run a corner shop in this part of West London, have other plans for their son. They want him to pursue a career in medicine, and he’s already a few years into his degree. Ardz should be studying during the summer holidays, but he hangs around with his mate Zorro, who films music videos for rappers.
As Ardz, Salehani is vibrantly charismatic, chatting to (and chatting up) the audience as he confidently tells his tale, which, for all its energy and fun, is initially a familiar narrative of a boy seeking a future on his own terms, rather than the life prescribed by his immigrant parents, who think they know best. And it’s impossible not to get caught up in Ardz’s new career trajectory when he unexpectedly raps in front of an established artist.
But the play switches tack when Ardz says something political on social media. His management – Zorro, at this point – swoops in and, in an act of damage limitation, takes over his TikTok and Insta accounts. If Ardz wants to be a star and conquer America, then he must keep his political opinions to himself. At first, Ardz doesn’t seem that bothered by this muffling. But as his fame rises, he realises that it comes at a price. Heavy is the head that wears the crown, to quote Shakespeare (or Stormzy, at least).
The rest of Manchester Drive is about this struggle to find his voice, a neat parallel to the early scenes when he wanted his voice to be heard. However, for this to work successfully, the politics should come earlier in the play to prevent the piece from coming across as two plays rather than a cohesive whole. It’s also unclear whether Ardz is political at all or whether he’s only showing an interest in world politics to impress documentarian Shirin, Zorro’s sister. Perhaps Ardz’s stance is meant to be ambiguous, but having him make a stand earlier in the play would demonstrate that he has always been a champion of the oppressed.
Shirin (an impressive Rima Georges) and Ardz never give a name to the country where she goes to film, and while this perhaps gives the play a longer life span, Salehani’s reluctance to be specific mirrors, in some ways, the reluctance of Ardz to speak out to his fans. Of course, they are referring to Palestine, but the young playwright may need to be braver and spell it out.
Manchester Drive could also be shorter, running much longer than its advertised 70 minutes, and although Salehani is joined on stage by Georges and by the hilarious Wesley Bozonga, playing Zorro and a few other characters, this is basically a one-man show and Salehani visibly tires by the end.
Salehani’s energy and commitment to telling a story that speaks so directly to our times eclipses these minor drawbacks. All the mandem in Peckham (and West London) should be proud.
Reviewed on 27 May 2026
Peckham Fringe runs until 5 June 2026
