AT LAST is the story of ten years of a fascist regime in the UK. “It was a ‘what if’ story of what happened if we lost all our rights and we had a very fascist far right government,” explains Brady. The story is set around a Truth and reconciliation commission after the event. Written in first person narrative with each writer contributing individual stories before editing them together, it has the feel of a documentary play.  However, the style is rather more poetic and embraces the individual, stories of sacrifice and redemption brought together to create a whole.   This sympathetic treatment of people is something that marries well with the ethos of the theatre and its tag line, ‘Be Who You Want to Be’.

Well-chosen and stunning music is also a hallmark of Proforca’s work and is crucial for Brady. “One of the key pieces of music for At Last is obviously ‘At Last’ by Etta James, which appears in the show, but not in the place that you would think.” Brady is often adding a mysterious element to his work, that surprise moment, but no spoilers here. “But I think one of the pieces of music that really defines the show, is ‘If You Tolerate This Your Children Will be Next’ by Manic Street Preachers” continues Brady. “It talks about the rise of fascism, if you allow things to happen to other people, then your children, the next generation would be the ones to suffer.” Brady believes that we’re seeing the erosion of people’s rights in the world at large. Written before the pandemic, much has changed.

“At the time the show was a strong polemic of what might happen.” At the time the show was being made, the Parliament debate about Brexit was going on. “During the Pandemic there was lockdown, and the law was being used to restrict people’s rights”, says Brady.  “The Conservative government came into power, as we were performing, with a very hard mandate for Brexit. Since then, we’ve seen all around the world the far-right ideology has got harder: Israel and Gaza, Donald Trump and the far right in the US. Trump putting people in CECOT prison in El Salvador. All of those things have come out just as we’ve started to create the show again. Now we’re in a world where lots of what the show predicted has actually happened. The Government are intervening in our rights much more than they used to.”

“The online discourse is harder and so much more of a challenge because I think left wing ideas are under much more scrutiny than they were when we first made the show” continues Brady. “It felt like there was a debate before, but I think even left-wing governments are having to make more right-wing compromises which are having an impact on all of our daily lives.”

At Last is set within a world where Brexit happened and the UK sealed its borders with a very definite hardening, which massively restricts immigration. One of the most interesting characters in the show is Grace who is the narrator of the play.   “She is the caseworker for the other six characters who tell their stories at their tribunal” explains Brady. “She talks about her grandmother being part of the Windrush generation and there’s a section of the show that talks about how we might have been more progressive in the past, but now those pioneers might look upon our current world and be ashamed of where we’ve ended up.”

Brady is conscious of parallels in Britain today. “People start to talk about things like immigration as an invasion,” he says. “I guess if you were to look at the Second World War when people had their rights removed it was heralded by a period of propaganda and scare mongering in 1930’s Nazi Germany. People close in, shut their doors and are unwilling to engage in any kind of dialogue – the UK depicted in At Last is no different – in fact it’s as extreme in some cases.” 

“There’s a very interesting speech in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation called “The Drumhead” when Patrick Stewart’s character makes a powerful speech about how when the first rights of anyone are eroded then it becomes easier and easier to remove the others” says Brady who is an avid fan of Sci-Fi. “If we didn’t challenge it at the beginning, then by the time it’s arrived, it’s too late,” he explains. With the rise of the Reform UK party, leader Nigel Farage says that if he gets in, he’ll increase police presence and ensure a zero-tolerance policy.  In At Last a police state has been established. “That’s what’s happened” says Brady.  “But Farage comes across like he’s everybody’s mates, but that won’t be the end result - what we’ll end up with is much worse than that but by then it will be too late.”

It is a mark of Proforca’s work to put ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.  “I think there is a real honesty in doing that by monologue because it allows you a lot more emotional truth that you can get economically in a black box theatre.” The last part of At Last is a series personal witnesses, the characters are talking about their experiences. “Very similar to the TRC in South Africa, so it’s almost like a courtroom testimony without the actual courtroom.”

After ten years as Artistic Director at Proforca Theatre Company David Brady says, “he’s all grown up now”. So many lessons have been learnt over the period and he’s always keen to open dialogues and bring people together. The Lion & Unicorn Theatre is where London Pub Theatres opened their very first Award ceremony in 2019 and as LPT is also celebrating their tenth anniversary it feels like we’ve been on the journey together.  We’re both at the stage of wishing that theatre was more outward looking, something that Brady is achieving with this play, but Brady’s biggest desire is for sharing stories, our stories. “I think we need to talk about things that are important to us as individuals, but you can talk about the messages in the guise of telling other stories. Back to Star Trek again, In the original 1960s Star Trek, which was set in space, The show talked about the Vietnam War, race relations, feminism, sexism and everything in between, but it did it under the guise of a really good story – and the stories we tell in Fringe Theatres can be just the same”. 

FUTURE PLANS

At Last plays at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre from Sept 2-13, Greenwich Theatre (in a special industry only transfer) on Sept 8^th and relaunches the Studio Space at the Albany Theatre Coventry as part of their “In The Spotlight” series on Sept 21^st. Proforca’s critically acclaimed production of Flashbang transfers to the Main House of Greenwich Theatre in January 2026 before embarking on a tour.