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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...

Aviatrix or bust: Lone Flyer @jstheatre

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Lone Flyer is about taking chances and living a little. Celebrating the life of British pilot Amy Johnson, the idea of flying to bring people together seems a novel idea living in the era of traffic light restrictions and endless swabs. And so, Lone Flyer takes on new meaning for escapism at the Jermyn Street Theatre . Charts the highs and lows of living in early 20th century Britain, it's also one woman's story about escaping the typing pool and living a little. Amy Johnson decided to fly to Australia because it was there. And no other woman had done it. And so, with a bit of luck and flying mostly to outposts of the old Empire so she could count on their support, she did it. And all on a second-hand aeroplane. For an antipodean with no chance of flying to Australia anytime soon, given the lack of flights and long waiting lists, it's enugh to give you pause.  In this two-handler play, first seen at the Watermill Theatre, Writer Ade Morris contrasts her improbable rise to f...