Political thrillers on stage are seldom seen. You get your average locked room drama, but throw politics in there and we’re usually talking BBC miniseries. In order to really feel the weight of the stakes at hand, political thrillers need space and length – usually the whole world is in danger. The Dishonoured by Aamina Ahmad, and produced by Kali Theatre Company, has none of this luxury, yet it is a compelling and evocative drama nonetheless.

Following a devastating attack on his unit, war hero Colonel Tariq (Robert Mountford) and his family are transferred to Lahore, Pakistan, so that he may aid the national intelligence service under Brigadier Chaudhry (Neil D’Souza). When a CIA agent murders a young girl (Maya Saroya), Tariq is forced to struggle against a diplomatic crisis with the West, his rocky relationship with his wife Farah (Goldy Natah) and the guilt behind his traumatic past.

This is Ahmad’s first produced play, but you’d never know. The plot is rich and thick with intrigue, racial tensions continuously bubbling and threatening to erupt. The way Ahmad balances both personal and national stakes, and makes them as important as each other, shows that she is going to be a writer to look for in the future. The dialogue is a little exposition-based towards the front of the play, but this dissipates quickly into thrilling scenes of cat and mouse between Tariq and his American rival Lowe (David Michaels).

There’s also terrific world-building: we hear so much about this area and community, you almost feel as though you’re living there yourself, and this is only heightened by the excellent soundscape achieved by Jai Channa. The beat and pulse of Lahore runs throughout the entire play and really lifts it into another level. That said, we’re always away from the action, trapped in the the sweltering boardrooms of Pakistan. The minute details transport us effortlessly – a ceiling fan overhead, the sweat on Lowe’s hair and back, even the floor tiling that is dusty and dirty.

Performances are universally excellent, if overblown at times. Mountford is an impressive Tariq, with one of those pleasing voices that can make any line sound sufficiently dramatic. Michaels provides the most accessible character; he’s every American tourist ever, and yet somehow he can spin this and become quite intimidating. As suffering wife Farah, Natah is sympathetic but sometimes dealt short by the script. She has only two defining characteristics (she’s an unfaithful artist), and neither are given enough closure at the end to feel satisfying. The same can be said for Saroya’s dual role as the grieving sister. She doesn’t remain long enough in the play for us to understand her character completely.

Director Janet Steel effortlessly manoeuvres this production into a ticking time bomb of diplomatic proportions. The pacing and general layout of all the scenes work well, but sometimes long set changes tend to bring the action to a grinding halt. There’s also a movie-esque quality to a lot of the transitions, that you wish could be explored further. A particularly wonderful moment occurs when Tariq stands under the ceiling fan, and suddenly we’re fading into helicopter blades and the horrors of war. It’s artistic direction, but lacks definition at times; we could do with holding onto these moments a second longer.

A particularly impressive script from Ahmad elevates The Dishonoured out of routine stage thriller territory. Coupled with some powerful performances, and moments of real genius from director Steel, this production had me gripped from start to finish. Somebody call the BBC.

The Dishonoured is playing at the Arcola Theatre until 2 April. For more information visit the Arcola Theatre website. Photo Robert Day