I was shocked to learn through the discussion hosted after this excellent play that, according to the Global Slavery Index, there were over 136,000 people living in modern slavery in the UK in 2016. That’s nearly the whole population of Dundee. But where are they all? This is the first issue anti-slavery campaigners have to fight – it’s a hidden crime. The trafficking of people happens behind closed doors, in windowless factories or in the back of lorries and vans. Victims sometimes literally never see the light of day. Hence the absolute necessity of a play like “My Mind is Free.” Writer Sam Hall’s one-act piece of physical theatre gives a voice to the many silent victims of this truly evil practice.

Four characters struggle for warmth in the back of a van headed they know not where. There’s Beatriz from the favelas of Brazil, mother of two children, lured over to London by the prospect of ‘cleaning work.’ Her passport taken by the agency and her cellphone stolen from her by her new employer, she has no way to contact her family and no way out of exploitation as her health rapidly deteriorates to the point where she is of no further use to her ‘employer’. Fifteen-year old Giang, from Vietnam, has been trafficked across Asia and Europe to work in a cannabis farm, all the while fearful that his family back home will be in danger if he tries to escape. Violeta has been sold into prostitution by a manipulative boyfriend and passed on to a brothel in the UK populated by other migrants, all drugged and forced into sex working. A former soldier with PTSD, Colin drifts into alcoholism and loses family, home and job. While sleeping rough he is lured with drink and seeming friendliness from a gang-master into punishing manual work and soon becomes completely dependent.

Arcing over all these narratives is the sense of helplessness that prevents the exploited from seeking help. The Rah Rah Company players inhabit the desolation of each character with real pathos. The cast do a magnificent job of bringing to the light these representatives of the faceless thousands of victims of modern slavery. And as if the misery of their situation wasn’t enough, the van they are piled into is headed for a truly horrifying final destination. It’s fair to say that the play is relentlessly harrowing – more harrowing still with the knowledge that the characters’ situations are based on real-life stories. Be prepared to leave the evening outraged at man’s inhumanity to man.

Rah Rah Theatre Company are on tour with ‘My mind is Free’ at venues around Scotland. Each performance is being accompanied by a speaker on the issue of human trafficking in the UK. For more details see https://www.mymindisfree.com. I would urge anyone with the slightest interest in this contemporary disease of a so-called civilised society to see this play, then talk about it with your friends, your workmates, with anyone you can.