The week in theatre: Two Billion Beats; Running With Lions; The Forest; The Chairs – review

‘Slangy, fervent and sharp’: Safiyya Ingar and Anoushka Chadha in Two Billion Beats at the Orange Tree. Photograph: Alex Brenner

I have got used to thinking that new theatre arrives in an explosion of form. Yet – obvious but true – sometimes fresh subject matter alone is the vital thing.

Straightforward in structure, occasionally too explicit but dynamic in its argumentative twists, Two Billion Beats sets up an urgent thrum. Sonali Bhattacharyya’s two-hander constantly surprises as it spins from bullying to sibling rivalry and the difficulty of not fibbing when speaking up.