Don’t. Make. Tea. by Rob Drummond. The Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, London W1 to 06 April 2024 & then on tour.

3✩✩✩ Review: William Russell.

“A chillingly funny look at life on disability benefits.”

This black farce, first seen at the Traverse in Edinburgh, about the nightmare world of social benefits for things like disability has now come to London for a short run followed by a short tour. It takes a little while to get going but everything comes together in Act Two. Chris (Gillian Dean) is a retired police officer in her late thirties, retired because she suffers from oculophorygeal muscular dystrophy, a degenerative disease which means she has difficulty walking, uses sticks and has failing eyesight .She can live alone, she has a friendly neighbour, and she can, with difficulty get to the shops but she cannot work and depends on her benefits. She also has one of those Alexa type machines called Able (Richard Condon) who comments on everything she does But the Government has changed the rules so that instead of being assessed on disability people are assessed on their ability to work – enter Ralph (Neil John Gibson), the Jobsworth from the ministry of Work and Pensions come to assess Chris. Act One ends shockingly and in Act Two the surprises are sprung. It is very funny, but equally alarming as what Chris is facing is too close to the world we live in not to make one feel slight queasy about laughing. People are out there now are being confronted by the red tape of the Jobsworths and the Government’s belief that work is for all and not just for the able so the questionnaire does not assess one’s disability but one’s ability to do things – and Chris, like many disabled people, can do things out of sheer bloody mindedness but she still needs the money. The performances are terrific with Condon bringing Able to life spectacularly,offering all sorts of help, although there are things he cannot do as he is actually inside Chris’s mind, while Emery Hunter and Nicola Chegwin add to the Kafka type havoc, one in the real world, one also inside Chris’s mind.

Cast

Gillian Dean – Chris.

Richard Condon – Able.

Neil John Gibson – Ralph.

Emery Hunter – Francis.

Nicola Chegwin – Jude.

Creatives

Director – Robert Softly Gale.

Set & Costume Design – Kenneth MacLeod.

Audio Visual Designer – Jamie MacDonald/

Lighting Designer – Grant Anderson.

Composer – Scott Twynholm.

Fight Consultant – Carter Ferguson.