Wolves on Road, written by Beru Tessema and directed by Daniel Bailey, debuted on November 14, at the Bush Theatre. The punchy play follows two young entrepreneurs, Manny (Kieran Taylor-Ford) and Abdul (Hassan Najib), as they’re lured into the world of cryptocurrency during its peak of popularity.
The show begins in Manny’s family home, where he lives with mum Fevan (Alma Eno). Fevan is in the early stages of a relationship with the well-meaning Markos (Ery Nzaramba), a Sudanese immigrant trying to build a better life for his son back home. Despite being rejected by Manny, Markos begins plans to realise Fevan’s dreams of becoming a restaurant owner.
As Manny laments over his latest failed hustle, Abdul introduces a new idea – investing in crypto to make quick money and escape the estate. While Manny is initially hesitant, he’s soon brought round by big wins during the bullish market.
Manny’s dreams grow when he reconnects with the charismatic Devlin (Jamael Westman), the founder of a growing crypto trading platform doing outreach in the local community. Addressing the audience at his DGX conference, Devlin sells his vision for an empowered community that uses his DGX coin to self-govern its finances. It’s an impressive sales pitch, and a helpful explanation for an audience unfamiliar with crypto technology.
Inspired, Manny encourages Markos to invest his savings in the DGX platform. What begins as a dream quickly becomes a nightmare as DGX suddenly freezes the assets of its investors. Markos, Manny, and Abdul lose everything. The effects ripple through the community as distraught families reckon with their losses and demand answers.
In the fallout of the DGX crash, Markos and Fevan’s relationship fractures. Manny can no longer afford his fancy apartment, and Abdul scrapes to repay his father’s lost pension. Despite this, their hard feelings don’t last. We leave with Manny and Abdul discussing their new endeavours; Manny now enamoured with the self-help guru Tommy Robinson, and Abdul trading in Forex.
The friendship between Taylor-Ford and Najib is a joy to watch, both portraying naive and excitable 20-year-olds effortlessly. Taylor-Ford stands out in his leading role, maintaining the energy throughout the 2:30 running time. In the role of their idol, Westman was a convincingly confident Devlin, winning over the audience in his sales-pitch monologue. From November 23, Westman will be replaced by Tom Moutchi, bringing an exciting new dynamic.
As Markos, Nzaramba had the audience captivated. Charming and hilarious, he was an unexpected character who brought a unique energy to the stage. Despite being ever-endearing, Eno seemed slightly young for the role of Fevan, affecting some of the believability of her relationships with Manny and Markos. Despite this, all made remarkable efforts and showed impressive improvisation under technical difficulties.
Wolves on Road tells an unusual story while being refreshingly uncomplicated. It’s simply enjoyable: funny, well-paced, and subtly layered. Despite its recent historical context, it feels nostalgic, humanising a technological breakthrough quickly forgotten. It’s an important story to honour – the realities of the destruction caused by the crypto boom – particularly as technology continues to outpace us.
But the real message of Wolves on Road shouldn’t be to demonise cryptocurrency. It has a poignant underlying commentary around the lack of socioeconomic mobility in the UK. In the wake of the community’s financial losses, Fevan elegantly states, “They’re not upset about the losses, but about having to come back to reality”. It was an easy line to miss but a powerful acknowledgement; emotional investments were made in the hope of freedom.
Tessema takes this point to an interesting place through Manny and Abdul’s development post-failure. Still hoping for financial freedom, they quickly replace crypto with new unhealthy fixations promising riches. It’s a stark reminder of their vulnerability to exploitation by a system stacked against them.
Although Wolves on Road warmly invites you to look deeply, it doesn’t oblige it. It equally offers an entertaining and heart-warming story. Its crypto theme will likely turn some off, but it’s a winner for the right audience. Staying open-minded, you’re guaranteed to leave smiling.
Need to know: Wolves on Road plays at the Bush Theatre from 9 Nov to 21 Dec 2024. See listing.
