What happens when you lose your job, the boiler bursts and you get a rent increase all in the same day? Here is the commonplace dilemma turned into a comedy by Kwami-Teye Canacoo
It is centred on Don, played with manic energy by Andrew Atha, who is not the sort of person you would want as an employee, a tenant…or a brother. He has no sense of reality or responsibility which negative qualities this play turns into assets.
His solicitor sister is putting pressure on him to get a job, and the managing agent is going through the motions of telling him, ‘the landlord says he wants to cut back on unnecessary spending across his properties’.
How Don’s character is turned around by adversity is the nub of The Tenant’s Republic. ‘I think you’re really underestimating the power of good vibes’ he says.
He makes a barricade of his flat’s IKEA furniture to keep the bailiffs at bay, but under the now constructive guidance of his sister he becomes more creative. He declares his flat an independent country and starts collecting allies of his neighbours, the media, and diplomats. The concept of applying to the EU for membership is ridiculous but it works because of his belief in himself – and because he has nothing to lose.
Anna Pritchard-Howarth is delightful as the stiff, mechanical managing agent doing a job she hates, gradually developing into a more human version of herself. Matt Ackerman is a brilliantly uptight television news presenter on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Aaron Garland makes a comically convincing gormless neighbour.
The play is all a bit on-the-nose, it tells rather than shows, but in its favour it does address important issues of refugees, high rents, property neglect and the question of happiness over austerity.  As Don puts it: ‘Why should I have to be miserable to pay my rent?’
it’s an unfolding story more than a drama, there is not much dramatic tension unless it’s about whether his boiler is going to be fixed. Any possible action is sacrificed for character development.
This is fine, as a comedy presenting one outrageous event after another. However, Tenant’s Republic lacks the heightened language which would have eased the acceptance of the lack of conventional drama.
Playwright: Kwami-Teye Canacoo
Cast: Andrew Atha, Amy Beckett, Aaron Garland, Anna Pritchard-Howarth, Matt Ackermann
Duration: 85 minutes no interval
Unti: 18 October 2025