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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...

High anxiety: Collapse - Riverside Studios

Production photo by Justin Stirewalt

It’s a brave or maybe slightly provocative production to use Hammersmith Bridge on their artwork for a show called Collapse, which is about how everything collapses—poorly maintained bridges, relationships, and jobs. Nothing works. That’s probably too close to home for Hammersmith residents stuck with a magnificently listed and useless bridge on their front door. It gets even weirder when you realise the piece is staged in what looks like a meeting room with a bar.

However, keeping things together in the most unlikely of circumstances is at the heart of Allison Moore's witty and engaging four-hander, which is currently having a limited engagement at Riverside Studios.

The piece opens with Hannah (Emma Haines) about to get an injection from her husband (Keenan Heinzelmann). They’re struggling for a baby, and he’s struggling to get out of bed. But he managed to give her a shot of hormones before she started worrying about the rest of the day. She’s unsure she will keep her job with her legal firm's clients dwindling and those she has not paying their bills. 

On top of this, her sister (Bonnie Langthorn) unexpectedly arrives with a package she must deliver. Finding an excuse to get away from the sister and layabout husband, she ends up stumbling in on a therapy session that she didn’t need and a man called Ted (Paul McLaughlin) who wants to take her out for coffee. And nothing else... What could go wrong from there?

It’s part farce and part drama, so it’s easy to see the appeal for the actors. The cast is hilarious while passing off as anxious Americans living in Minneapolis. There’s angst, mystery and a bit of sexually provocative conversation over coffee and pie. It may be a little predictable, but it does make you wonder what makes people tick and tries to veer away from what could be the predictable. 

I liked the venue. It reminded me of the pop-up theatres we’ve seen across London in the past, and it feels fun that people are just putting on a show to remind us how many terrific stories are out there to tell and how fabulous they are as performers. 

Directed by Lloyd Smith, Collapse continues at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith for a limited number of dates until 31 August. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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