Dial 1 for UK

No matter how long you spend at the Edinburgh Fringe – this year we were there for four weeks and saw 152 shows – you always remember the ones that got away. And one of mine this year was Mohit Mathur’s Dial 1 for UK; I really wanted to see it but I just couldn’t make the dates work. So, I was delighted to discover that the production was continuing with a post-Fringe tour, and its final performance (for now at least) was held at The Place in Bedford.

©Deven Ahire

I know from first hand of people who lead a pretty good life in India but who still think that the streets of the UK are paved with gold and will consider the most expensive and problematic options to realise that dream of moving, working and one day becoming a Britisher. The insightful Dial 1 for UK tackles that romantic notion from the point of view of Uday Kumar – yes those really are his initials – a call handler in New Delhi on the night shift and a YouTube influencer in his spare time, extolling the virtues of London and the United Kingdom to his subscribers with boundless enthusiasm and, sadly, no knowledge of the reality.

©Deven Ahire

We meet the kindly and upbeat Uday in his new day job as a carer visiting many old people, including Major Robinson from Hounslow, once a proud cricketer and father, now eking out a lonely, not to mention incontinent, existence with only a brief visit from Uday to put a smile on his face. But Uday has plans to study accountancy via the University of Sunderland, and life will be rosy once his visa sponsor arranges his proper accommodation. But it doesn’t take long for all his plans to change and for that kind sponsor to become no more than a slave trader, with Uday living on a pittance and having to sleep in a public toilet.

©Deven Ahire

Beautifully structured, the play takes us back and forth comparing Uday’s life in the UK with his earlier years in India, working at the call centre under assumed English names to give his British callers more confidence; an ambitious young man frustrated at the confines of his existence but at least having a roof over his head and freedom. Feeling he can take India no more, he hatches a plot – disreputable and criminal – to raise the 14 Lakh rupees (that’s about £12,000 – yikes!) he needs to pay the intermediary for the visa, flight and accommodation, and soon he’s away in the skies courtesy of Emirates. We share in his joy at discovering London despite facing some racism, doing Insta-ready posing on his phone and updating his YouTube channel.

©Deven Ahire

There’s a very poignant scene when, in need of some assistance, he encounters another Indian who looks just like him, whom he feels he can trust as a brother from another mother, but who refuses to offer any help. That’s the sharp moment when he realises that, for all its promise of bright lights and success, life in the UK is ruthless and cruel. From then, it’s just a battle of wits and the need to survive, dragging Uday further into a life of crime.

©Deven Ahire

Innovatively staged, a simple office chair effectively doubles up as both his call centre office and the wheelchair used by the Major. He uses photographs to create his supporting cast of characters and creates a veritable and literal web of red tape that links all his connections to a police evidence board, becoming more complex and trickier to negotiate every time he makes a fresh contact.

©Atka Photography

It’s a true tour-de-force performance from Mohit Mathur that instantly endears us to the enthusiastic Uday; so powerful is his connection with the audience that we continue to like him and support him even as a criminal. He is an engrossing storyteller, filling in his narrative with small but perfectly judged elements such as the Indian obsession with Primark, and his choice of whisky on his flight. Primarily, he truly makes us believe every aspect of Uday’s plight; and when he rails on his stupid fellow countrymen for having those misplaced expectations, and beseeches them to read the small print, you know it’s coming from the heart.

With delightful flashes of humour to lighten the undoubted tragedy of the story, Dial 1 for UK lifts the veil on what is essentially people trafficking, making fat lawyers rich and the gullibly ambitious poor. You come out of the show with a deeper understanding of how some people can become used and abused simply by being innocent and hopeful. Insightful, poignant and powerful, this important play fully deserves to reach more audiences in the future; highly recommended!

Five Alive, Let Theatre Thrive!