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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...

Smoking previews: Aaron Kasmin, Lucky Strike @sims_reed


Opening Sims Reed Gallery’s 2016 programme is an exhibition of chalk pencil drawings by artist Aaron Yasmin.

Known for his abstract paintings and elegant colour pencil drawings, in Lucky Strike Yasmin takes inspiration from American cultural history to create a series of striking images.

Taking inspiration from Lion Match Company’s mid-twentieth century feature matchbooks, these drawings reflect the rise of America’s consumer culture and how small matchbooks were used as tools to influence purchasing habits.

The drawings evoke a glitzy bygone era... When smoking was so glamorous.


Aaron Kasmin was born in London in 1963 and studied at Chelsea School of Art. Known for his still-life drawings and abstract paintings, Kasmin is intrigued by the concepts of composition, scale, size and colour.

The exhibiton runs at Sims Reed Gallery through to 5 February.




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