Electricity is pulsing, pumping, pounding in the air.

On a traverse stage, the audience is locked into their seats, ready for an immersive ride.

And Daytime Deewane delivers!

The vibrant rhythm, director Sepy Baghaei has brilliantly orchestrated, is unparalleled, matched only by that of Shakespeare or Lin Manuel Miranda.

Set in the legendary daytime raves in 1997, London, Daytime Deewane is a tender portrait of what it means to be torn between respect for one’s culture, customs and traditions and rebellion - where freedom is tasted on the tongues of many Pakistanis but dare not uttered in their houses.

As the dance floor fills and the afternoon unfolds, Farhan (Ariyan Sharma) is still clutching his school bag - a fish out of water, a long way from home, a goody two shoes and a proper Pakistani boy. He meets his cousin there, Sadiq (Ashan Kumar), a cool, confident and stylish Pakistani boy with a natural grove for the music and a tongue mastered in rap that rhyme is a native language.

Mixing spoken word poetry and Bhangra fused dance music, the play creates its own rhythm, each scene excellently executed, the tempo, spun by composer and sound designer, Chrysoulla Maarkoulli, is the perfect blend of EDM and a Shakespearean ballad on steroids.

Despite being a two-hander, the play always feels dynamic. It mixes soliloquies and spotlights with stichomythic dialogue. It fuses lightning-fast costume changes with crystal sharp lighting cues. The rhythm is so palpable it sends currents of electricity and spine-tingling energy from stage to audience. It asks you to join the dance, literally! And speaks to you with and without the fourth wall.

The rave club is a black shiny traverse stage with a mixture of loudspeakers at either corner, and a low hanging lighting rig that runs around the whole stage, emits an electric pulse timed to perfection. Brockman’s immaculate lighting and set design reflects a liminal space, functioning as a transitional bridge where people can shed their normal identities and experience a temporary state of ambiguity and transformation.

Similarly, the play’s concern with biculturalism is equivalently evocative of a liminal space. Transporting us into the lives of two British Pakistani boys. It’s a space between cultures, one often characterized by ambiguity and a continuous process of reconciling or integrating different cultural values.

Yet, it’s also a space where audiences on either side of the stage feel fearless and capable of dancing across that bridge with Farhan and Sadiq. We feel the bravery of Sadiq’s decision to leave London, his law degree, and his Pakistani expectations behind. His decision feels like a cultural betrayal to his family but a personal loyalty to himself and his inner dignity. And at the same time, we empathize with the fear in Farhan’s voice, still too innocent, naive, and young to cross that bridge that defies his family’s expectations, to answer the question “everyone will need you, but what do you need?”

But for a moment, at the daytime rave, Farhan seems to forget all that, and loses himself entirely and utterly in the music. A new, proud, and hot, courage emerges - one drizzling in rizz, steaming with confidence, and dazzling with dance moves. A masculinity that is rephrased as “peacock energy”, a term which metaphorically mixes something spiritual with something beautiful. A metaphor that helps us unlearn a masculinity that is aggressive, dominant, or sexually entitled but one that is self-confidence at its humblest.

Azan Ahmed’s writing fearlessly takes these steps, allowing the play to shine in its radical joy and its bold, stereotype-defying performances. The choreography of Shyamla Eswaran is magical and spellbinding, beautifully synced to the rhythm of our hearts. Movement becomes a way to clear our minds, make us weightless and free. Peace is not only a mosque, it’s also a dance floor.

There’s a moment in the play that will stay with me forever.

A spotlight falls upon an aged Farhan. He’s remembering that moment in the past before the daytime rave was shut down forever. He’s an accountant now, a father with a wife and children. But the spotlight brings him back to the dance floor. And suddenly he summons the radical joy once more. With a wave of his hand like a wand in the sky, he commands the light to spin like an electric current around him - and we feel the surge of strength that empowers him to uproot his life and his new family in quest for the man that gave him his first taste of freedom.