‘I Dream of Theresa May’ – Wonderful satire on hoops new immigrants must jump to become British
In the wake of much anti-immigrant feeling, a new playwright looks at what is Britishness exactly…
By Suman Bhuchar
CONCISE, tightly written and engaging ‘I Dream of Theresa May‘ by Vivek Nityananda is the first full length play to emerge from the NOVA playwriting programme of new writing, created by Tara Theatre to showcase work from a South Asian lens.
The show has just received an Offie Assessors Choice, which is the Off WestEnd body’s nomination of excellence spotlighting independent theatre outside the traditional West End and its central London theatres.
‘I Dream of Theresa May’ is a black comedy satire on the hoops that immigrants have to go through in order to become British — this means getting the desired ILR – Independent Leave to Remain status, so you can become a British citizen.
‘I Dream of Theresa May’ begins in December 2013 and the queer educated scientist and researcher Nikhil (Taraash Mehrotra) has nightmares of the immigration vans the Home Secretary Theresa May has ordered to find illegals. In May 2012, May as Home Secretary, introduced a ‘hostile environment’ for immigrants, rounding especially on undocumented migrants and discouraging others from staying and becoming British citizens.
Nikhil’s visa is about to run about and he doesn’t want to go back to India because the Supreme Court there has continued to uphold the ban on gay relationships – not to mention his parents won’t speak to him, despite the many phone calls he makes.
His best friend is ‘Jo’ (Jyoti), played by Tanya Katyal, a female pansexual Indian immigrant who is also a ballsy woman and wants to confront inequality anywhere. She’s studying for her PhD in law and is committed to social justice.
One day his worst nightmare happens. Theresa May turns up in his home but instead of wanting to deport him, offers to give him lessons on the ten steps to becoming a True Brit.
He is a willing pupil as he is totally selfish and self-centred and that is his only goal.
This is the format of the show, punctuated with questions taken from ‘Life in the UK‘ textbook. Immigrants have to pass this test to prove their Britishness.
Audiences are in for much hilarity and the piece is engaging and cogent. The repartee between May and Nikhil is fun and the two performers are in sync.
What emerges is a perspective from the point of view of what Indian migrants consider to be Britishness – such as always saying ‘Please’, ‘Thank You’, engaging in local community causes, being a busy body and using sentences like “really chuffed to be here”.
There are four actors and Katyal and Nusrath Tapadar also play a range of white people who come into contact with ‘Nik’ by donning white masks.
Theresa May is brilliantly played by Amy Allen, while Tapadar also plays, Noor – the love interest of Jyoti.
‘I Dream of Theresa May‘ whizzes through the five years – the time taken to qualify for the ILR (although immigration laws continue to change) and this show is the directorial debut of Natashi Kathi-Chandra, as artistic director of Tara Theatre.
The set by Erin Guan is a mixture of naturalism and surrealistic – with a series of steps punctuating Nikhil’s journey, as well as projecting a series of images on a screen and also becoming a night club.
The two Indian characters are mouthpieces for a different set of political positions – Jyoti could be considered to be Labour leaning leftie, who wants to go back and fight for social justice in India and is a total antithesis of Nikhil who is an outright Tory.
He follows May’s guidance on expressing ‘Gratitude and Care’ for the community by setting up the Wordsworth Protection Society with a daffodil as mascot.
Does Nikhil get what he wants? Go see.
This is enjoyable, relevant and timely.
Acv rating: **** (four out of five)
*In 2018, India’s Supreme Court lifted the ban on homosexuality
Top picture: Nikhil (Taraash Mehrotra) ©Adam Rizvi
‘I dream of Theresa May’ by Vivek Nityananda – last performances 3pm & 7.30m (TODAY – Saturday, November 29) Tara Theatre, 356 Garratt Lane, London SW18 4ES
https://taratheatre.com/whats-on/i-dream-of-theresa-may/
