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You can’t stop the boats: Sorry We Didn’t Die At Sea @ParkTheatre

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Sorry We Didn’t Die At Sea by Italian playwright Emanuele Aldrovandi and translated by Marco Young, has made a topical return to London at the Park Theatre after playing earlier this summer at the Seven Dials Playhouse. In a week when leaders and leaders in waiting were talking about illegal immigration, it seemed like a topical choice . It also has one hell of an evocative title. The piece opens with Adriano Celantano’s Prisencolinensinainciusol , which sets the scene for what we are about to see. After all, a song about communication barriers seems perfect for a play about people trafficking and illegal immigration. One side doesn’t understand why they happen, and the other still comes regardless of the latest government announcement / slogan .  However, the twist here is that the crossing is undertaken the other way. People are fleeing Europe instead of escaping war or poverty in Africa or the Middle East. It’s set sometime in the not-too-distant future. There is a crisis causing p

Mixed race privilege: White @ovalhouse


I always knew what I was. I was mixed race. I was... And so begins Koko Brown’s monologue White. It’s about being mixed race and being an outsider and growing up in modern Britain dealing with labels when sometimes none really fit.

It’s currently playing at the Ovalhouse Theatre as part of its Autumn Series of shows.

Koko Brown uses spoken word, live vocal looping and multimedia to create a powerful and compelling statement on how we view people.


Whether it’s the black girl in the corner, who like’s Panic! At the Disco. Who doesn’t get why she’s always cast as Scary Spice. Who stumbled onto a Black Lives Matter march.

The vocal looping creates a series of songs to comment on the various stages of her young life.


It’s fascinating for both it’s assured performance and uncertainty with what happens next.

It would make a great double bill with  Joe Sellman-Leava’s piece Labels.

In the meantime, you can catch it at the Ovalhouse until 25 November.

Next up at the Ovalhouse is The Sex Workers Opera, which combines theatre and music to showcase the lives of sex workers... Warts and all (or so to speak).

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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