The Hen & Chickens Theatre, London, October 2013. A Paradigm production.
Directed by Cat Robey. Cast: Theo Ancient, Oliver Gatz, Matt Houlihan, Antonia Reid and Sarah Winn.
Middle class liberals Chloe and Jake are shocked when they discover some immigrants living inside their utility cupboard, but they decide to let them stay in return for doing a few errands around the flat. But before long, things spiral out of control. Join UK Home Office official Richard Winstanley as he recounts a shocking true story (and not-at-all a ham-fisted allegory) from the government’s case files.
“You are left questioning not only your own values and your notion of yourself as a good person, but also the future of Britain itself.” Last Minute Theatre Tickets.
“The Utility People’ was comedy gold. A fiendishly sardonic look at guardianista gentrified armchair socialists…a tragicomedy that clearly forces us to re-evaluate our smugness about our beliefs and morality and what our convictions make of us. So it doesn’t sit and preach at us, but complicates things through comedy with a sharp edge to it.” Hackney Hive.
“Michael Ross’ script is pared and articulate….a doubly clever exposition of the wafer thin pretences of Champagne Socialism” What’s On London.
“A very deserving play, well structured, rehearsed and it definitely had me thinking about the privilege associated with my British passport.” Frost Magazine.
“It makes the audience question their political stance before they even realise they are doing it.” The Public Reviews.
Reviews for THE UTILITY PEOPLE (FRESH OFF THE BOAT)
“‘The Utility People’ was comedy gold. A fiendishly sardonic look at guardianista gentrified armchair socialists…There is a dark polemic twist near the conclusion that, had the writer ended it there, would have ruined the story, but it is a tragicomedy that clearly forces us to re-evaluate our smugness about our beliefs and morality and what our convictions make of us. So it doesn’t sit and preach at us, but complicates things through comedy with a sharp edge to it.” Hackney Hive.
“Uneasy chuckles were quickly disguised by embarrassed coughs, as people began to realise exactly what they had been laughing at….You are left questioning not only your own values and your notion of yourself as a good person, but also the future of Britain itself.” Last Minute Theatre Tickets.
“This second piece really went for the political overtones, but in a way so subtle and alongside such successful comedy that the audience felt torn as to whether laugh or cry. It makes the audience question their political stance before they even realise they are doing it.” The Public Reviews.
“Michael Ross’ script is pared and articulate. Initial favour descends to abuse of the immigrants’ goodwill, and you think the wife nuts for considering it sustainable. But it’s a doubly clever exposition of the wafer-thin pretences of Champagne Socialism (or its poor Prosecco cousin). Chloe berates colonialism prior to adopting its model, dexterously justifying slave labour in her un-stateliest of homes…” What’s On London.
“If the first half satirises the Daily Mail readers of the UKBA, the focus here is firmly on Guardian types (Chloe even works there). Jake and Chloe are every inch a pair of granola-eating sandalistas – one of the books on their kitchen table is the Abel & Cole Vegbox Book. When the mother and son are discovered in the broom cupboard, Chloe’s first reaction is that they shouldn’t hand them over…” One Stop Arts.
“The son, played by Theo Ancient, really comes into his own as he’s given a real voice to proclaim damnation of the way immigrants are treated around the world. As he eloquently sums up the moral and legal system of immigration in the UK, I was literally blown away. Articulating and applying a magnifying glass to the situation, he underpinned the hopes, fears and realities of immigration against the privileges of those living here….A very deserving play, well structured, rehearsed and it definitely had me thinking about the privilege associated with my British passport.” Frost Magazine.