REVIEW: My Uncle is Not Pablo Escobar at Brixton House 7 April - 3 May 2026
'dynamic, entertaining, enlightening' ★★★★
Latin Americans are one of the fastest growing migrant groups in London, especially in Southwark and Lambeth and specifically, areas like the Elephant & Castle. With an estimated population of 145,000, the precise figure is not known due to the lack of a Latin American tick box in data monitoring. This below the radar invisibility/identity was one of the key creative impetuses for the development of My Uncle is Not Pablo Escobar which combines social commentary with cabaret and cartoon capers.
If you missed this dynamic, sold out production in 2023, it’s back in the hood. The Hale, an independent arts producer, and Lambeth’s Brixton House present a new run - and are putting their money where their mouth is, by offering limited £5 tickets to those from the Latinx community. Co-created by Valentina Andrade, Elizabeth Alvarado, Lucy Wray, Tommy Ross-Williams and Joana Nastari, it’s 90 riotous minutes of performing resistance, subverting stereotypes and challenging norms.
My Uncle is Not Pablo Escobar, is rooted in the lives and experiences of writers Valentina Andrade and Elizabeth Alvarado whose conversations and musings we hear as voiceovers. It’s a multi-layered hybrid piece: part play, part song and dance, part interactive games. It kicks off with some hard core Latinx rap and voguing from the kick-ass cast who guide audiences through the conflicting territory of what it means to be Latinx, London-based, female or non-binary and straddling two cultures.
Alejandra (played by Yanexi Enriquez) is a hard-working A-Level student who hopes to get into Cambridge. Feisty big sister Catalina (Lorena Andrea) is an investigative journalist from Chile and on a case. Cute and kooky Lucia (Cecilia Alfonso-Eaton) is a student activist, demon coder and runs a queer club night called My Uncle is Not Pablo Escobar while Honey (Nathaly Sabino) is in charge of a gang of Latinx cleaners in a City based bank - one that happens to be laundering money from Columbian drug cartels.
The premise: a group of Latinx office cleaners rumble and expose the bad guys - is all a bit daft - although HSBC did launder $881 million dollars from Colombian and Mexican drug cartels between 2006 and 2010. Tonally, it veers around a bit from political commentary to vigilante comedy thriller. The short, choppy, scenes are ironically, a little drawn out although the cabaret and quiz parts are joyful and entirely absorbing. The tri-lingual subtitles—English, Spanish and Portuguese—projected above the performers were difficult to read and slightly distracting, though the idea was worthy in principle.
While the story plays out like the squares in a cartoon strip, the personality of the performers and heart of the show translates into feel good dances, surreal performances and songs that range from the raunchy to sweet. The winner of a 2024 OFFIES Special Recognition Award for Representation, My Uncle is Not Pablo Escobar adds up to more than the sum of its parts. It is a rewarding, enlightening, and entertaining show, offering a welcome blast of positive, feel-good, can-do energy - something we could all use right now.
Listings information
7 Apr – 3 May
Brixton House, 385 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, London SW9 8GL
Company information
Writers Elizabeth Alvarado, Valentina Andrade, Tommy Ross-Williams, Lucy Wray
Co-creators Elizabeth Alvarado, Valentina Andrade, Joana Nastari, Tommy Ross-Williams, Lucy Wray
Dramaturg Joana Nastari
Directors Tommy Ross-Williams, Lucy Wray Showrunner Tommy Ross-Williams
Producer Dais Hale, The Hale Associate Producer Sean Brooks, The Hale
PA & support worker Riss Obolensky, The Hale
Production manager Daniel Basnett
Community organising and festival production Valentina Andrade
Choreography Myron Birch
Lighting design Roberto Esquenazi Alkabes Set and costume design Tomás Palmer
Originating sound design Xavier Velastín Production manager Daniel Steward
Translation Elizabeth Alvarado & Lucy Wray (Spanish), Victor Esses (Portuguese)
Video design & captions Rachel Sampley
Cast
Alejandra Yanexi Enriquez Lucia Cecilia Alfonso-Eaton
Catalina Lorena Andrea Honey Nathaly Sabino
Photo credit Lucy Le Brocq of Kaleidoshoots
