A dark comedy supported by renters’ union ACORN runs at Clapham’s Omnibus Theatre this week, using farce and real-life mishaps to probe the pressures facing tenants amid a worsening housing crisis.

A new play dealing with the UK’s housing crisis head-on has opened at Clapham’s Omnibus Theatre, developed in coordination with the renters’ union ACORN.

Produced by Pound Road Productions, the cutting-edge comedy — titled The Good Landlord — tells the story of an unfolding crisis in a Birmingham flat, as two hard-up renters sublet their cupboard to a vulnerable stranger.

The play has been in development since 2023, when it first sparked the imagination of writers Ethan and Kalman Dean-Richards, running initially in the West Midlands before moving to London and playing at the Clapham Omnibus this week. The initial idea grew from one incident in which a friend of a writer was hit by a falling cupboard in a private rental — a plot point integral to the play today.

Clapham, the writers explain, is right at the heart of the issues that The Good Landlord aims to satirise. Co-writer Ethan Dean-Richards noted that private rents in Lambeth rose nearly 10% between 2024 and 2025, far outpacing the general rise of just over 5% across London.

“In the UK, on average you spend on average 36% of your income on rent, compared to Germany where it’s 25%, or France where it’s 18%,” he said.

“The housing issue is wherever you look…the older you get, the more you realise you’re not an exception to history. You end up paying these high rents, and you can’t not write about it in the end.”

Lambeth, meanwhile, introduced new emergency measures to alleviate the housing crisis in October, with 28,000 households now on its waiting list for affordable accommodation. Dean-Richards explained that while the research that went into The Good Landlord was stringent, inspired by Nick Bano’s book Against Landlords, the play isn’t an angry polemic.

“We’re not trying to write this didactic bore-fest, where we lecture people for an hour and a half… We’re still determined to make this a kind of night out that renters can go to and enjoy,” he said.

“I’m not a big fan of the kitchen sink drama. I wanted something more playful than that.”

Director Yusuf Niazi, who has been in the industry for a decade and frequently collaborated with the writers, said the premise resonated immediately.

“I think the plot is really enticing… it speaks to me as someone who has rented a lot in my life, and in London, where lots of the rooms that you pay up to £1000 for a month are really small,” he said.

“The idea that there’s this comedy play about two guys that try to illegally sublet their cupboard was really exciting for me.”

According to Niazi, the play draws upon a few different comedic sources, from the black comedy of playwright and director Martin McDonagh to the crowd-pleasing appeal of The Simpsons — a combination, he acknowledges, that few would expect to hear in the same sentence.

On stage, the play largely delivers on its promise

Judging from the London premiere on Wednesday 17th, it’s been a hit, with much of the Clapham Omnibus sold out. The play lives up to its billing as a comedy — the laughs come thick and fast, many skewering the culture of rentals, landlordism, and deflected responsibility. As promised, it’s not preachy, but veers between a lighter, more farcical tone laced with moments of startling darkness.

It’s also necessary to give plaudits to the small cast. As a four-hander, there’s a lot of pressure over the 100-minute runtime. When the script sometimes doesn’t quite make a joke land, the actors are more than capable of making it work. Jason Adam, playing protagonist Jack, a struggling, trauma-addled wannabe landlord, is the standout — his relentlessly cartoonish physicality perfectly captures the play’s tone.

It’s fair that some jokes can be hit or miss, but when they land, they hit hard. The play juggles a few too many plot points at times, but this does not undermine its high-intensity comedy. The Good Landlord is well worth a watch for anyone interested in how the current rental crisis is permeating youth culture and the arts.

ACORN, the renters’ union, has backed the production

Both the writer and director were grateful for the support of ACORN, the renter’s union that has championed the play as it travels to the capital – offering half price tickets for members.

A spokesperson for ACORN said:

“As well as helping to promote the shows via our own platforms and to our members, we’ve contributed information on the current state of renting, information about upcoming changes brought about through the Renters’ Rights Act, and advice that renters can use to take on bad landlords and stand up for themselves. This is included in programmes available at the shows, and we will be present at some events with a stall as well.

Too many people in the borough are forced to live in unsafe homes, with 1 in 4 homes with a category 1 hazard (such as serious damp or mould, electrical, fire and structural hazards)…more and more people, including families, are becoming homeless or forced to live in unsuitable temporary accommodation for long periods.”

The union is taking further steps in Lambeth.

“In November, December and January, we’ll be bringing ACORN’s new Baliff Free Britain campaign to Lambeth.

In Lambeth, council tax debt is collected by Equita and Newlyn. In 2024-25 (as of October 8), 24,108 cases were referred to the two companies. £30.8 million of debt was referred to them. Lambeth residents should be able to count on their council for support, not have bully baliffs set on them.”

ACORN attended to show support, handing out leaflets and encouraging signups to the union.

The play comes at a time of enormous pressure and reform in the rental sector nationwide. Mortgage repossession orders in England are at their highest in five years, while the Renters’ Rights Bill is set to ban no-fault evictions and introduce an ombudsman for faster resolution of tenant-landlord disputes.

The writers described this as timely – and it’s hopefully a shot in the arm for this play that’s bringing one of the biggest cultural issues today into the spotlight.

• The Good Landlord,
  18-22 November 2025, 7:30PM
  Omnibus Theatre, 1 Clapham Common Northside, London SW4 0QW
  (Tube: Clapham Common station – Northern Line, buses: 88 and 417, 249, 137, 322).
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