If you’ve ever had to navigate the partnership visa system, you’ll know it’s a very specific sort of bureaucratic hell. And it’s the setting for Fringe show Border Control. This audio-visual political drama takes place in a fictional UK Visa and Immigration office where department officers are deciding whether a young married couple are, indeed, in love and can therefore stay in the country.
Border Control is a stinging work written by UK playwright Michelle Sewell that examines how immigration systems affect modern relationships – perhaps more relevant now during a pandemic than ever before. Can you determine whether a relationship is genuine or not simply by trawling through thousands of photographs, bills and online updates?
Border Control first toured the UK pre-pandemic and is presented online and on-demand to Australian audiences thanks to Hack Theatre and Theatre Works.