Alphabetti Theatre Newcastle – Wednesday 6th August 2025
Reviewed by Sandra Little
4****
This show was written and performed by Mohit Mathur and directed by Phill Willmott
This one man show, performed by Mohit Mather tells the story of Uday Kumar (UK). Uday works in a call centre in New Delhi helping people with their queries about investments in Goldmine Crypto GB. Whilst working at the call centre, Uday dreams of living in England and becoming a British citizen; he spends his spare time posting videos on his YouTube channel where he fantasies about a wonderful new life in England.
Although the performance does not follow a chronological order, the play reveals that Uday eventually realises his dream and arrives in Hounslow where he works in a care home and strikes up a relationship with an elderly resident suffering from dementia. Uday continues to post videos on his YouTube channel, including his visit to “The London Eyeball.” Despite describing himself as an influencer, there seems to be little influence involved in the videos that Uday posts and sadly it becomes very clear that life in Hounslow for an immigrant falls far short of the dream that Uday had when working in India.
Despite the comedic, light hearted style of this performance, the pitfalls facing immigrants are clearly highlighted in the narrative which indicates that England is not, “a land of milk and honey” as many immigrants are led to believe. Scattered within the lighthearted narrative, there are references to illegal visas, poor accommodation, loneliness and racism.
This story is told with minimum props, namely a mobile phone, a call centre headset and some black and white photographs; however, this does not limit from the impact the script has.
This very funny and energetic short piece of drama certainly makes you question assumptions about immigration and the racist views held by some members of society. The subject matter couldn’t be more relevant given the current news articles and political agenda surrounding this topic.
Mohit Mathur is a new playwright and a West End performer. He is currently performing this play in Edinburgh and describes it as an evolving piece of work. Judging from this performance at Alphabetti, I would say that Mohit is definitely an emerging talent and someone well worth watching in the future.