A riotous journey through four waves of immigration from the 17th century to today. As the French Huguenots, the Irish, the Jews and the Bangladeshis in turn enter the chaotic world of Bethnal Green, each new influx provokes a surge of violent protest over housing, jobs, religion and culture. And the emerging pattern shows that white flight and anxiety over integration is anything but new. Written with scurrilous bravura, Richard Bean’s comedy follows a pair of star-crossed lovers amid cutters mobs, Papists, Jewish anarchists and radical Islamists across four tempestuous centuries.

England People Very Nice is a play by Richard Bean. It opened at the National Theatre in February 2009. The play is about four waves of immigrants that have arrived in the district of Bethnal Green, East London.