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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...

Thinking out loud: 10 Nights @Bushtheatre

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Shahid Iqbal Kahn's 10 Nights, currently playing at the studio space of the Bush Theatre, is about what happens when a young, carefree British Muslim man spends the last ten nights of Ramadan in a mosque. But it isn't a story about religion or radicalisation. It is a more straightforward journey.

Yasser (Zaqi Ismail) gets around in a tracksuit and sandals. He likes a drink, and he loves chips. A reluctant participant in the i'tikaf, he did it for his father and to honour his friend who died in a car accident. The reasons for the accident become more evident as the story progresses.

Left alone for long periods between prayers and fasting, it becomes the inner monologue of Yasser. And as the days progress with only his thoughts and a few smug fellow worshippers to keep him company, he realises he has to face up to a few things.


What it may lack in drama is made up in the detailed characterisations by Ismail of his father and friends at the mosque. There are also enough explanations about the prayers and Allah's 99 names for those unfamiliar with the religion to keep up. 

The production is a Graeae and Tamasha co-production that uses British Sign Language and captions alongside the performances. It's a simple staging but what is engaging is the storytelling and the scene-setting through both the detailed descriptions and Ismail's performance.

Directed by Kash Arshad, 10 Nights is at the Bush Theatre until 6 November. All performances are audio described, use British Sign Language and are performed in a relaxed environment. 

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️


Photos by Ali Wright 


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