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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...

Bar tips 101

Chinese New Year was as good an excuse as any to have a few celebratory drinks this weekend, but:
  • Try not to make too much of a scene when encouraging intoxicated friends to sing key songs from Dreamgirls (although helpful to keep unwanted punters at bay)
  • Don't confuse old blonde woman in bar for Jessica Lange post Glass Menagerie matinée
  • Beware that slightly-familiar yet good looking guy in the bar who is checking you out... He may be the star of a children's programme you avidly watched 15 years ago...

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