A Latinx heist thriller: Q&A about My Uncle is Not Pablo Escobar

Returning to Brixton House following a sold-out run and a OneOff Special Award and Finalist for Best Play at the OFFIES 2024. My Uncle is Not Pablo Escobar is high stakes heist drama. Part journalistic expose, part thriller, the production transforms systemic injustice into something visceral, kinetic and communal. Through the story of four British-Latinx women uncovering a money laundering scandal at a multinational bank – loosely inspired by the 2012 HSBC scandal – the show explores those that profiteer and those that pay for it, pointing to the wider corporate complicity in the drugs trade. We spoke to writer and co-creator Valentina Andrade, and co-creator and dramaturg Joana Nastari.

What first inspired the creation of My Uncle Is Not Pablo Escobar?

Elizabeth Alvarado and Valentina Andrade met at the Advocacy Academy, an organisation which teaches young people to be activists. They worked on a campaign to get the box “Latin American” on the census with Latinxcluded. This campaign sparked a lot of conversation and there was clearly so much more to say on this topic as the Latinx community is so under-represented in the UK. They are the fastest growing population and that isn’t really reflected in the media. The lack of a box on the census typifies a general attitude. Their teacher at the Advocacy Academy, Tommy Ross-Williams, worked in theatre and said to them, ‘have you ever thought about making all this passion, opinion, and stories, into theatre?’ And that was the start of it all! Ely and Valentina worked with Tommy and some other theatre professionals and Latinx actors to start devising a show. And this show eventually became My Uncle is Not Pablo Escobar! 

The title My Uncle Is Not Pablo Escobar immediately challenges a familiar stereotype about Latino identity. What conversations were you hoping to open up through that title?

With the title specifically, we want people to know that Colombia has more to it than just being where Pablo Escobar is from. Some people glorify him without knowing anything about the social political context and impact on the country, and not knowing about all the other great things that are happening there. It’s reductive, annoying and insensitive. 

I think with all stereotypes, it takes someone pointing it out to get people thinking. Thinking about how maybe the default assumptions they had are not true… maybe what they’ve learnt from TV and films is just a tiny part of a much bigger nuanced whole. I think the title is intentionally defiant and angry to also show that these stereotypes hurt! They’re reductive, dehumanising and sometimes genuinely dangerous. How do you summon care for the issues of a specific group of people if wider society doesn’t even yet see them as people. Stereotype-busting is the first port of call for sparking more nuanced conversations about real issues that face a community. 

The show blends political commentary with the pace of a heist thriller. How did that combination emerge during the writing process?

We were very keen to show that we were very influenced by TV in this show, as we were obsessed with Jane the Virgin when we first started making it.. To reflect this we made the characters  recorded voices into telenovella narration throughout the show. The story of the women bringing down the bank was always a desire to be part of the show, and back in 2021 Joana Nastari - our dramaturg - had just been in the writers room for Culprits, a heist show on Disney, and as we worked on the story she suddenly realised “this is a heist” and we started to intentionally push it into that shape. It felt really right and gave the show this specific genre, to keep nodding to film and TV. Oceans 8 had come out in 2018 and became a big reference in the group. This allowed us to lean into the genre, and let that structure carry the political themes through the characters special skills, the places they have to break into and the characters they have to meet along the way. 

The show returns to Brixton House in the heart of South London. What does staging it there mean for the work?

This show isn’t just about Latinx identity it’s specifically about being south London, London Latinx. This is where the show’s heart beats. We’re from here, the Advocacy Academy is just down the road. This is where the main character lives and has grown up in London. We have been so embedded in the community and so this show being on here again is like a second homecoming. We’re playing with the home fans and that’s just the best feeling. Local businesses will be interwoven during the run, serving food at parties and festivals. A festival specifically for the community is on the 18th. It’s a family affair! Come and be a part of it. (Find out more on the Brixton House website) 

Where do you think Latinx communities currently sit within the UK theatre landscape, and why was it important for you to bring these voices to the stage?

I think the Latinx voices are getting stronger and stronger in theatre all the time, there is now not one but multiple in the UK: Casa, Papaya in Bristol, there’s even a Latinx Youth theatre now! It’s so heartening to see a growing theatre scene centring Latinx voices. Latin scratch night, Cervantes theatre (a Spanish Language Theatre) Brazil Diversity theatre company and more! 

Have there been any audience reactions so far that stayed with you?

We have been approached by dozens of teen Latinx girls who live locally, they have been touched and inspired. And this is the most meaningful possible reaction as we first wanted this show to exist for ourselves when we were teenagers. This is the show we needed then but never had. We dedicated this show to “our Maria”, a young Latinx girl who craves community, visibility, acceptance and space and our conversations with those who came and saw the show proved that we did just that. We made a show that younger us would’ve loved. 

Nathaly who plays Honey also has been approached after the show by audiences who feel very touched by Honey’s journey through the immigration system. This has been particularly meaningful at this time for her as, even though she has grown up between the UK and Brazil in her own life, this year she was officially made a British Citizen, and so it feels like life is imitating art in this moment. 

What do you hope audiences take away from the experience of watching the show?

We hope they will dance into the night, we hope they will call a friend or relative they understand more. We hope they will learn something and see the world a little differently, how financial structures uphold oppression, that all of us hold some stereotypes that aren’t true. That activism is enticing and beautiful! 

I hope people go away feeling proud of their community, having learnt something about Latinx people, and leave and join a movement - form their own gang - start their own heist! Join a movement, support a cause, be part of shaping a new world that’s a little closer to the one we created in this show. Where justice is served, people speak truth to power, where the system is challenged, and we make the best friends, have the most fun along the way. We hope that they feel that the revolution is irresistible.

My Uncle in Not Pablo Escobar is at Brixton House 7 April – 3 May, tickets at brixtonhouse.co.uk