Friendship, ambition and Black girlhood collide in Off-Key, a sharp and heartfelt new coming-of-age drama from award-winning theatre collective Side eYe.
Set inside a high-achieving Birmingham grammar school, the play follows best friends Sabrin and Ruqqiyah, two teenagers approaching the point where school ends and the future suddenly begins to feel very real.
Sabrin is secretly preparing for a potentially life-changing music audition. Ruqqiyah, meanwhile, is focused on bringing down a teacher whose behaviour she believes should no longer be tolerated.
Between music, school pressure, teenage politics, panic attacks and increasingly ambitious schemes, the priorities that once united the two friends begin pulling them in different directions.
What emerges is a story about the difficult transition between adolescence and adulthood — and about what happens when the person who has always understood you begins becoming someone you no longer recognise.
At its heart, Off-Key explores Black girlhood, friendship and ambition, giving its young characters complexity and space to be funny, flawed, driven and uncertain.
The production comes from Side eYe, the award-winning collective behind Dugsi Dayz and Desperate Times. Dugsi Dayz was subsequently adapted into the BBC Comedy short Proper Ladies in 2026.
Side eYe’s work centres stories by Black Muslim women and their allies, creating theatre in which characters and experiences that have often been marginalised can take centre stage. The collective received both an Edinburgh Untapped Award and the BBC Popcorn Award for Dugsi Dayz.
The tour of Off-Key is supported by Kayd Somali Arts and Culture, further connecting the production with organisations developing and supporting Black creative work.
Taking place over the final two days of Black History Month 2026, the Birmingham performances offer an excellent opportunity to experience contemporary Black British theatre created around the lives of young women whose stories are rarely given this kind of attention on major stages.
Funny, emotionally honest and rooted firmly in Birmingham, Off-Key promises a fresh perspective on friendship, identity and the pressure to be exceptional.
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