The Kensington and Chelsea Festival in partnership with The Chelsea Theatre is delighted to announce the theatre’s summer 2023 Festival Season. Running from 11th July – 30th August, 18 individual performances will span physical theatre, comedy, performance art, children’s theatre, and live music.
“We are gathered here, communally, to be educated, to enter into pedagogy and this here is a two way street”. This is a show of introduction, education and instruction, where a political ideology, queer perspective and gender transcendence is encouraged. Within this production, Ms David Hoyle invites you to decide whether you will grow up to be a suburban housewife or the crème de la crème. It is an education, not worth missing…
The human body is well and truly a temple, the amount of functions it carries out is an absolute marvel, from the brain sending various body parts a series of messages in a split second to that wonderful chemical, adrenaline fuelling fight or flight situations, the anatomy continues amaze.
This is my first visit to the Chelsea Theatre, a vibrant performance space and community hub near World’s End that has attracted some of the biggest names in contemporary performance, such as Franko B, Gob Squad, and Annie Sprinkle. November is dedicated to the festival SACRED 2015: The Identity Issue. Sixty artists have come together to explore the four aspects which help us to define ourselves –age, gender, ethnicity and sexuality.
A subtle fluorescent glow, featuring a revolving disco ball sets the scene for this exclusive exhibition. I promenade through performance space one, (the bar), free glass of champagne in hand, I observe the elitist audience that has gathered. One of all sexualities, expressing freedom, liberty and confidence, this is a show for everyone. Just Like a Woman is an exhibition of shows, debates, instillations and screenings looking at the performance of identity- the ways femininity can be ‘performed’ and representations of how gender can be queered through performance. This striking production presented by the Live Art Development Agency, working in collaboration with The Chelsea Theatre, is an exploratory piece discovering a sense of identity, gender and feminism.
There are thousands of actors and actresses who flock to the land that is Hollywood to pursue their silver screen dreams, however, there are only a select few who actually grasp that opportunity to showcase their talents to the world, experience a snapshot of fame, and rise the ranks to achieve ‘A List’ status. There are a handful of stars who have not only achieved legendary status, but have also transcended the cinematic medium with their spirits living on throughout generations.
Do you constantly end up looking back at what could have been? Played out certain situations and conversations, and wish that you could have altered the outcome? It seems that we’re always worrying about what other people think, and always want to have all of the answers, however that isn’t the case…
© Richard Davenport