Writer: Izzy Kate Ward
Director: Laura Masters
A promising scenario for an audience-focused satire, an employee induction offers writer and performer Izzy Kate Ward a strong structure and plenty of material to build her new show around. Mr P From HR is, however, still in its probation period as it explores the role of Human Resources in facilitating employee abuse and subsequent cover-ups at major corporations. With two performances at the Old Red Lion Theatre as part of the venue’s FreshFest 2025 programme, Ward’s strong characterisation and ideas for participation are impressive but the overall effect needs to be a little sharper.
Congratulated on being one of only 1.7% of applicants to the Gaylord’s (pronounced “Garrods”) luxury department store, the day one induction of new staff includes a presentation on the store’s illustrious history, its 70 million customer base and its pyramidal reward scheme; there is even a song. Led by Mr P from HR, this 45-minute overview session gives new starters a whistlestop tour of what to expect at Gaylord’s while a secret history of the store is fighting to get out.
Described as an ‘interactive Drag King experience,’ Ward is a charismatic and entertaining performer, charming the audience with a series of activities and conversations that break down the fourth wall, making the viewer more than a passive observer. That ability to warm the room is vital to the games, role play and situations that Ward concocts, requiring willing (and not so willing) volunteers to make the show work and for the audience to invest in the induction-presentation scenario.
There is some fun stuff in here including a little negging of audience members who may not have worn their most Gaylord’s appropriate outfit and an entirely random lip sync to She Works Hard for the Money in an illuminated cape… because why not? But the interactive moments have to serve the satire and it is not always clear whether Ward is looking at luxury stores more broadly with their classist snobbery and servile expectations of staff or specifically targeting the sexual assault and rape culture reported at a famous retailer with a very similar name.
The guerilla incursions of slogans and verbal testimony add clarity as well as the darker tone Ward is aiming for yet the material could work much harder to seed some of these ideas earlier and with greater impact. So role-play moments like the slightly messy story of helping a grieving customer have to be more than an example of exceptional service but part of the breadcrumb trail that Ward is plotting through the show that ultimately points to the inappropriate and criminal behaviours experienced by staff.
And that will have implications for the character of Mr P as well. Ward could take a stronger position on the character, deciding either that he is a beleaguered innocent having to induct staff into a monstrous world that he is powerless to change or he is the facilitator of management misdeeds, selecting suitable staff for sacrifice. This has the potential to be a really strong piece on exploitation in the workplace, but every bit of this show has to be orientated towards and support the satire, leaving the nervous inductees to wonder just whose side Mr P is really on.
Runs until 1 March 2025
