The antics of the extremely wealthy has been a much discussed topic as of late, with Elon Musk’s antics sending many in to a frenzy. Ariel Hebditch’s original play is a topical exploration of the power dynamic when age, class and gender norms are instantly subverted. Hooded has a group of Robin Hood-like young women kidnapping a billionaire and distributing his billions among the employees he has so grossly underpaid.

“I wanted to explore a situation in which three young women could exercise complete control over a rich and famous man”

The play addresses “how insane the concept of the modern billionaire is. It’s easy to forget that a person actually stands behind these multi-billion-pound corporations, and by having a character on the stage who represents all of these wealthy men in power, you are forced to see the person who possesses this unreal amount of money. I hope I can show that this is wrong, that when millions of people are living in poverty, one man should not be able to decide whether he ends world hunger with his personal income”.

Ariel, both the writer and the director of the piece went on to say: “The play stemmed from my own anxieties about firstly, the insatiable nature of billionaires and secondly, the unfortunately very common cases of men in power abusing their position. It boils down to a feeling of powerlessness, so I wanted to explore a situation in which three young women could exercise complete control over a rich and famous man.”

The cast is a promising one, as Ariel stated: “I was definitely looking for diversity when casting the play. In particular, as an asexual person myself, I find the lack of asexual representation on stage very frustrating, so having written an asexual character, I was thrilled to get the wonderful Kitty Liu, who identifies as asexual, to play her. All of the cast members are incredible. They have responded to the script so well and I’ve been so impressed with their ability to switch between the comedic and the serious elements so easily”.

The play “is a direct appeal to students, because the protagonists are students”, and the play visits the extreme scenario that may be needed in order for us to make our opinions known. For anyone looking to take a break from their studies and join in the kidnapping of a billionaire, the Corpus Playroom is the place to be.

Hooded by Ariel Hebditch is on at the Corpus Playroom at 7pm from Tuesday 10th to Saturday 14th May.