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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...

Breaking bread: Eating Myself @BrxHouseTheatre


Food as a starter for conversation, making a new family, and finding a place is at the heart of Eating Myself, Pepa Duarte’s story of exploring what it is to be a woman from Peru, living in London, living with unrealistic body images. It’s having a short run at the Brixton House as part of the Housemates season, where artists take over the house throughout July.

In this short piece, which has previously been online, Pepa explains how she cooks on a stovetop a Peruvian dish with beans and potatoes and a lot of added extras that, when growing up, she was never supposed to eat. It reminds her of her grandmother and brings her back to her roots. As the show progresses, the dish's aromas waft through the audience bringing to life the words in a sensory experience. And one that might make you a little hungry. 


But it also is a story about diets and calorie counting. Pepa directly asks the audience if they think she is fat. It’s a direct question to the audience that sets the scene about body image. But she also uses her body to convey her battles with body image and her attempts at dieting, and the exhausting yet scientifically dubious process of calorie counting. She parades, hides under tables, and rolls on the floor in an endearing performance as she recounts her struggles and those of her relatives. 

In addition to a stovetop, various other kitchen utensils and foods hang in the background as part of some surreal religious experience. Perhaps, in this case, they are. 

And for those who found the aromas too irresistible throughout the show, you can take a bowl of the dish with them to the next show as well. 

Written and performed by Pepa Duarte, Eating Myself is at Brixton House as part of the Housemates season only until 15 July. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


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