Dial 1 For UK
Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne
6th August 2025
Back at Alphabetti Theatre for the first time in a while and it has lost none of its welcoming and quirky charm. It is always a good idea to arrive early to enjoy the convivial atmosphere of the foyer-cum-bar area before heading into the intimate performance space for your chosen theatrical adventure.
Today was a beautifully crafted and thoughtful piece written and performed by Mohit Mathur exploring the dreams and desires of his character, Uday Kumar (the UK in the title), who longs, along with many of his followers and well wishers, to emigrate to a new and better life in the hallowed city of London, UK. When we first meet Uday, he has already made it to Hounslow, where he is working in the care sector looking after an elderly man deep in the throes of dementia. The story flits backwards and forwards in time as Mathur skilfully weaves Uday’s adventures.
Uday is keeping a record of his journey by posting regular videos back to his followers in India. His vlogs could be a play in themselves and are often hilarious as he makes mistakes such as calling the London Eye, the eyeball of London. His vlogs are delightfully cheerful and exuberant, extolling the virtues of his new life in England but as the videos end, we learn of the true realities of his nomadic experience, the illegalities of his entry into the UK, and his desperate efforts to keep himself hidden from those who would return him to his homeland.
In this one man show, Mathur, cleverly uses stand up cards to introduce the other players in his story. These cards display caricatures of the characters Uday has encountered in his journey from call centre customer service representative, Indian Emigration Guru influencer and newly arrived care worker in the UK. As the performance continues, Uday’s natural chirpy and exuberant manner slowly starts to slip as he recalls some of the things he has done and been involved with to find himself where he is today.
Mathur skilfully performs his own show, which, he tells his audience, is constantly developing each and every time he performs it. He endears himself to his audience, and his enthusiasm is unwavering. He lands each of his comedic punchlines with ease, but it is when the tale turns significantly darker that his acting skills really shine and makes for uncomfortable viewing for the audience as this affable and cheery character grapples with guilt, loneliness and homelessness, and potential deportation as the story progresses.
At a mere 50 minutes in total, Mathur manages to fit in some weighty social commentary around the lengths to which potential immigrants will go to seek a so-called better life in the UK and the horrors that can befall when the promised and fabled nirvana turns out to be anything but.
The play has a natural and satisfactory conclusion but is also open ended and truly captures, in one final sound bite Uday’s plight, desperation and unwavering desire to remain in the UK to live his dream. It is left to the audience to decide whether or not he gets his wish.
Mathur has crafted a beautiful piece that gives the viewer a rare insight into the motivations and desires, and the dangers and pitfalls of dreaming about seeking a new life in the UK. It provides a great deal of gentle humour with just the right level of provocation to make the audience think about what it is to dream, and the realities of securing a new life as an immigrant here in the UK.
I have not been able to get up to the Edinburgh Fringe this year due to a combination of a lack of time and an even starker lack of available finance so I am very grateful indeed to Mohit Mathur for a gruelling journey of his own, and to Alphabetti Theatre for bringing this jewel of theatre and of the Fringe to me.