Dial 1 for UK – York Theatre Royal Studio

Writer: Mohit Mathur

Director: Phil Willmot

Mohit Mathur plays the only part – aspiring influencer Uday Kumar – in his pertinent and frequently amusing play about the difference between the UK seen from abroad and witnessed first-hand. It is perhaps not as surprising as the publicity would have us believe: after all we all have experience of Indian call centres and only the most unimaginative could believe that the UK welcomes immigrants with open arms and no red tape.

Mathur skilfully portrays the many aspects of the character of Uday who leaves India and the call centre for the glories of Britain. He is blindly enthusiastic reporting to his small following from the West End and confusing the subject of Les Miserables (no, it’s not about a guy named Les) and shows the same enthusiasm with a touch of desperation in lauding the benefits of crypto currency. In a flashback to call centre days he chats happily to a woman about her missing cat and later venerates the ex-major in the care home where he works as a cleaner. In the end, he appears in a hoodie talking (with much less of an Indian accent) of life on the run.

Uday is a study in innocence. Having been conned into spending his money on a visa for the UK, he finds himself stuck in this country with a student visa which runs out, having speedily abandoned his course at the University of Sunderland (in London!) and living in temporary (with every sign of being permanent) accommodation in a hostel while he works at menial tasks in the care home.

Mathur’s script is deft, full of misunderstandings and exaggerations (Hounslow is rather less grand than he claims), but increasingly dark as the play progresses, and Mathur proves a most engaging performer.

Phil Willmott’s production is as clever and witty as Mathur’s performance, making an impact with minimal resources. As the audience enters, typical call centre waiting music is heard, one of those tunes that goes round and round, but never ends, while over the PA Mathur’s voice engages with his customers: “You are Number 4 in the queue. Congratulations!”. Photographs of people and places are set on chairs and stands, together with a map at the back with streamers of red tape which are attached to the furniture and show the enlargement of Uday’s life , then finally return to the map.

This is not the first tour of this play which perhaps explains the polish of the whole enterprise which is immensely likeable without, perhaps, being revelatory.

Reviewed on 16th May 2026. Touring the UK.