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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...

Scenes from the Tate Modern Friday 13:59


Scenes from the Tate Modern Friday 13:59, originally uploaded by Pauly_.

As part of a team building half-day away day I suggested that we try out the slides by Carsten Höller at the Tate Modern. Well actually, the away day was fashioned around the desire to go on these monster slides but never mind that...

I tried both slides in the foreground. Starting with the one on the top level I found it to be a bumpy ride that was only improved after yelling a four-letter expletive for the entire journey down. The lower one was more fun and I managed to even enjoy it a little... There was a shorter slide that I even managed to make "wheee" noises for... By that point I had become a slide pro...

The slides will be around until April next year. By then I may try the slide from level four that has you going at speeds of up to 30mph... But not today... Höller may be onto something when he suggests that slides should be incorporated into new buildings as an interesting way of getting about... It would be more reliable than the tube...

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