Visiting Bedford’s Place Theatre on a student visa is fictional migrant, Uday Kumar in a harrowing but charming one man play about one Indian man’s hopes and dreams of escaping the harsh world of New Delhi, and making it in the “dream land” of the United Kingdom.
In the last show of its tour, which has visited multiple theatres across the country including the Edinburgh Fringe, ‘Dial 1 for UK’ is a story of optimism mixed with the sometimes harsh reality of migration to Britain.
Uday Kumar – aptly nicknamed ‘UK’ – is toiling away in a “British based” call centre in New Delhi for ‘Goldmine Crypto GB’, seemingly sweet talking unknowing Brits into throwing large sums of money into unspecified cryptocurrency investments.
The 12-hour night shifts are hard and exhausting, but the hopes of visiting London’s West End keep Uday going and one day, on the promised word of one of his ex-colleagues, he decides to give it a go and migrate to Hounslow.
Except the unforgiving Thilak and his workforce of people traffickers won’t sell him a visa unless he stumps up a significant amount of money, leading him to scam £10,000 from an unsuspecting old lady, using her missing cat as his “in”.
We are soon welcomed into a world of broken promises; the “high end” accommodation promised by Thilak is actually a bunk bed in a temporary hostel and we get a glimpse into the often thankless tasks completed by those in the care industry, with the red tape beginning to mount.
Sympathy vs disdain
The story is not linear; we bounce from Uday’s nights in the call centre, to the mansion of 95-year old Major Robinson of which Uday cuckoos his way in, to the 136 subscribers of Uday’s YouTube channel, in which he documents his “dream move” to Great Britain.
Predictably, his “influencer” tag does not hold much influence, despite the best efforts of his sole British subscriber, Alice and a motley crew of similar dreamers who want to know what it’s like in the promised land of bright lights and fish and chips.
While the whole story is presented as optimism, this one-hour play is actually a blunt warning of the realities for some who arrive on our shores, from false documents to loneliness and “cleaning the toilets we end up living in” to brutal racism.
The subject could not be more topical, and is a timely reminder that while there are those out there who wish to tear this country down, in a lot of ways, us Brits could not be more lucky to live here.
The play is simply presented; the change in scenery is shown by the simple addition and removal of albeit AI-generated photography, but it makes it relatively easy to follow, which cannot be said of all one man shows.
We’re also greeted with the very dark worlds that can quickly begin to engulf those who just want to get by, leaving us as viewers grappling between sympathy and disdain for the protagonist.
Watching on, we are left to battle our conscience; between the very obvious troubles of a cheerful and caring man and the darker side of someone who hurts others to achieve what ‘UK’ sees as an “influencers” dream.
The dream does not end well.
A run in with the police, via the floorboards of the Major, leave us feeling for a man who begins his life of attempting to survive in a world of cash-in-hand work and feeling like a third world citizen, as we quickly forget his misdemeanours and are left wondering.
How common is this?
Unfortunately, while I would recommend seeing this show, it was the final performance of the run. It was wonderfully presented by actor, Mohit Mathur and directed in simple but gripping fashion by Phill Wilmott, but it may be a while until you’re able to see it again.
However, while the play may be over for now, (there are further shows planned for May 2026, including in Peterborough), with the current state of affairs we are experiencing in the western world, this feels like a topic that is far from running its course.
Transparency: The author of this article, Tom Carr, was given a free ticket to
‘Dial 1 for UK’ at The Place Theatre in Bedford to facilitate this review.
