BORDER CONTROL Comes to the VAULT Festival

A timely piece of political theatre is set to challenge audiences at London's Vault Festival next month.

HACK Theatre's Border Control is a short piece that looks at the country's current immigration system and its effect on modern relationships.

A panel of three UK immigration officers scrutinise and dissect the minutiae of a young, couple's turbulent marriage to decide whether 3717 photos, Tesco receipts, and occasional indulgences from Ann Summers qualify them as being in love and therefore able to remain in the UK.

Michelle Sewell is a British Australian who, after a conversation with other international friends about marriage visas, felt compelled to write the piece.

"If a non-British person wants to marry a British national, they have to obtain a visa and then reapply for that every two and a half years," explains Michelle. "But the decision-making is based on whether the officials decide that the couple are really in love. This in itself is complex; how does one define love?"

The audience does not meet the couple; like the officials they are introduced to them by their photographs, texts and emails, Facebook posts and Skype calls.

Their intimate details are displayed on screen and include the cause of their arguments (12% began over the quality of the new Star Wars films to the original Star Wars films), what they bought at Tesco, personal family information and a one-off purchase from Ann Summers.

"By virtue of the everyday stuff of relationships, our love of social media and sharing our personal details, it's a funny and observational piece," continues Michelle. "And, for exactly those reasons, it's really quite startling. I think it will be a bit of an eye-opener for many."

Border Control is followed by a panel discussion around Brexit, immigration, and the future of the arts which is hosted by the broadcaster Paul Gambaccini - a dual US and British citizen - featuring a host of renowned immigration lawyers, academics and MPs.

All performances of Border Control will be BSL signed

The venue - Cavern - is fully accessible

Book online at www.vaultfestival.com