Zia Ahmed takes a class blast at repression in Britain

Photo: Gate Theatre
Daniel Nelson

Brassic FM is a two-barrel blast at the authorities trying to police aspects of working-class British cultural life. 

It’s loud, high-intensity agitprop that includes shout-outs for the abolition of prisons, anti-migrant prejudice, the racist Met, virgin testing of South Asian women at UK airports, Inglan Is A Bitch, the 1994 law banning unauthorised gatherings featuring music “characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats”, the Bibby Stockholm, and the precarious lives of undocumented workers.

This is no surprise.

After all, brassic is a northern term for poverty and having no money.

The Gate Theatre’s content guidance also spells it out: 

“Please be aware that the following themes present in this production – Mentions of Racism, Depictions of Arrest, Protest & Imprisonment, Discussion of Class Injustice, Class Prejudice & the benefit system, Implications of sexual assault, Mentions of parental loss, References of drug use, References to sexual activity, Mentions to Immigration laws, References to war and colonisation and explicit language.”

Plenty to be angry about there. And they are not the only issue in playwright Zia Ahmed’s sights, some of which are positive - such as rave culture, the apparently utopian 1992 Castlemorton Festival as contrasted with the expensive, mainstream Glastonbury, Carnival, community (“Music is the base, community is the place”), factory strikes, and a long-distance Pakistani love affair.

And theatrically, that’s the problem. It’s nominally about a pirate radio station, but there’s little plot and too much to take in. It’s an overwhelming mix-tape. One scene races after another with a click of the lights, one track chases the next - all topped by a thumping Punk song about working-class desire for the accoutrements of the good life.

The three-strong cast (Zainab Hasan, Jonny Britcher, Zakiyyah Deen) generate the energy of the entire crew of a Hollywood musical. Magnificent, rumbustious, justifiably angry, but at some point I felt battered by the avalanche of stories, incidents and emotions. 

Let’s shout out for complexity.

* Brassic FM, £5-£18,  is at Gate Theatre, 26 Crowndale Road, NW1 1TT, until 30 September. Info: https://www.gatetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/coming-up/