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A Man For All Seasons: Seagull True Story - Marylebone Theatre

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It's not often that you see a play that tells you not so much a story but gives you a sense of how it feels to be in a situation, how it feels to be silenced, how it feels to be marginalised, how the dead hand of consensus stifles your creativity. However, in Seagull True Story, created and directed by Alexander Molochnikov and based on his own experiences fleeing Russia and trying to establish himself in New York, we have a chance to look beyond the headlines and understand how the war in Ukraine impacted a a group of ordinary creatives in Russia. And how the gradual smothering of freedom and freedom of expression becomes impossible to resist, except for the brave or the suicidal. Against the backdrop of Chekhov's The Seagull, which explores love and other forms of disappointment, it presents a gripping and enthralling depiction of freedom of expression in the face of adversity. After playing earlier this year in New York, it plays a limited run at the Marylebone Theatre . Fro...
An open letter to Mother

I had a quiet weekend (not counting getting home at 3am on Saturday and Sunday morning) so I used the time to catch up on some letters from home. Since my mother is probably the only person that reads this I thought I would answers some questions from her recent letters:
  1. I don't know anybody that collects stamps. I try not to use the word philately in conversation in case it is misunderstood...
  2. Don't let Dad leave you outside the men's toilets. It isn't a good look.
  3. I did hear about the baggage handler who had a camel's head. It is nice to hear that QANTAS employs all sorts...
  4. When seeing London in only one day, Do breakfast in Soho not Piccadilly, go to the Tate not Saatchi Gallery, and see a £10 play at the National or use the TKTS booth.
So there you have it.

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