Photo: Harry Elletson

My Uncle is Not Pablo Escobar by Valentina Andrade, Elizabeth Alvarado, Tommy Ross-Williams and Lucy Wray – Brixton House, London

The four women who perform ‘My Uncle is Not Pablo Escobar’ take over the Brixton House stage in a wave of energy. All are Latinx (that’s the non-gender specific version of Latino/a) but from different backgrounds, living in South London and dealing with the lazy, ignorant and racist assumptions that come their way on a daily basis. But the show, created by four writers but based on the experiences of two of them – Valentina Andrade and Elizabeth Alvarado – is a celebration, and a reclaiming of narrative agency. Framed by ragged-edged, authentic scenes in which the performers discuss their experiences, to whoops of support from a large Latinx contingent in the audience, is a story of campaigners infiltrating an unnamed bank: evidently HSBC, prosecuted in 2011 for enabling Colombian and Mexican drug cartels to launder drug money on a huge scale. Characters pose as cleaners to obtain evidence of illegal transactions, while a family drama plays out between sisters.

The show is an engaging, sometimes wild ride. The simple but effective set, by Tomás Palmer, and lighting by Roberto Esquenazi Alkabes, cleverly delivers bedsits, cleaning cupboards and City office atriums. the four performers, Yanexi Enriquez, Cecilia Alfonso-Eaton, Pia Laborde-Noguez and Nathaly Sabino channel the energy of London’s young, increasingly visible Latinx community. What the script lacks in sophistication, it makes up for in its urgent need to tell stories that are only now bursting into theatres – with shows such as this, and Guido Garcia Lueches’ Playing Latinx. We can expect to see much more of this group of writers and performers, and the excitement, political insight and entertainment they bring to the stage.