Dictating to the Estate
Maxilla Social Club

This month marks five years since the Grenfell tower fire. In the years following the devastating blaze that killed 72 people, there’s been little justice for the survivors and bereaved.

No arrests or charges have been made, high-rise blocks are still fitted with dangerous cladding and the firms that created the deadly materials continue to turn over billions in profit. 

In the absence of concrete action, Dictating to the Estate seeks to hold those responsible to account on the stage. The 90-minute documentary drama is a sensitive and powerful portrayal of the Grenfell community’s heroic battle against the institutions determined to push ahead with a lucrative redevelopment of the area, no matter the human cost.

Using council reports, emails, blog posts and testimonies from the inquiry, writer Nathan McBride documents the litany of failings in the years preceding the blaze. The end result is a remarkable piece of gripping and informative theatre.

Narrated through local resident Edward Daffarn, the drama details how the community repeatedly raised grave health and safety concerns, only to have them dismissed or ignored by the Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

A series of power surges so strong that residents’ computers “literally exploded,” in May 2013, were downplayed by officials as a “minor issue.” A faulty ventilation system, which instead of removing smoke from the stairwell, transported it to the floors above, was only replaced in 2016 — six years after local resident Shah Ahmed first alerted the TMO of the potentially life-threatening consequences. 

As the tenants battle for accountability through the Grenfell Action Group, the response from the TMO becomes more and more sinister. Tenants are subjected to threats of legal action and even eviction for their campaigning. 

One of the most chilling scenes depicts the TMO’s decision to switch from the fire-resistant zinc cladding to the cheaper — and deadly — aluminium panels in order to bring the project within budget. The dramatisation of the private email exchanges hits home the utterly callous decision-making by those in charge of the regeneration, with cost-cutting and aesthetics prioritised over safety.

A brief appearance from ex-PM David Cameron also demonstrates the high-level decisions that contributed to the blaze. Vowing to “kill off the health and safety culture for good” to a crowd of fiendish Tories, the lights go dim as Cameron rounds off his appalling speech: “We cannot eliminate risk and some accidents are inevitable.” 

Performed at the Maxilla Social Club, just a stone’s throw from Grenfell Tower, the drama’s  five-strong cast, Tamara Camacho, Lucy Ellinson, Jon Foster, Avin Shah and Nathan Ives-Moiba, do an impressive job of switching seamlessly between the frustrated residents and smarmy council officials. (Ellinson’s near-comical depiction of the offensively posh ex-deputy council leader Rock Feilding-Mellen particularly stands out). At times, the rapid pace and constant character swapping can leave you scrambling to catch up, but the announcement of characters is effective at bringing the audience quickly back into the loop. 

It ends with the gut-wrenching testimony of Grenfell survivor Hanan Wahabi. Waiting at the foot of the tower, she calls her brother who is still on the 21st floor and begs him to get out as the fire rapidly climbs up the building. But it’s too late. The lights fade as the names of the 72 appear on a bright green screen. A megaphone is left in the middle of the stage — a powerful reminder that had those in charge listened to the voices of tenants, we might not be looking at the long list of names at all. 

Dictating to the Estate plays at the Maxilla Social Club, Kensington, London, until June 12