Exploring experiences of Brixton

A female-run theatre company based in South London, have announced their latest project, Knock Down – Brixton.

Dropped Tea are staging what is being called a site-specific performance promenade, where the audience will move between five venues.

Each will host a performance from a London-based creative, exploring their experience growing up in Brixton, writes Joe Marshall.

Alex Wheatle is an award winning author, responsible for the children’s book Crongton Knights.

He grew up in the care system and was jailed during the 1981 Brixton riots, later inspiring the television programme Small Axe, which is based on his life.

He will be performing beneath the clocktower at Lambeth Town Hall.

Thea Gajić is an actress, writer and director, currently working on her debut feature film Surviving Earth.

The Ritzy Cinema will be hosting her piece in its upstairs bar space.

Poet and writer Jennelle Reece-Gardner, who has become known in spoken word circles, produces work around gender and racial identity.

She will perform in Round Table Books – an intimate shop in Brixton Village which celebrates lesser known children’s writers.

Award-winning actor Michael Balogun is to appear at Brixton House.

Having featured in TV’s Top Boy and you don’t know me, his one man show Death of England Delroy won best play at the 2021 Visionary Awards.

Brixton House is a new theatre which aims to connect people within the community.

British-Nigerian artist Sola Olulode has had her work displayed on public screens on the transport networks of several US cities.

She focuses on the themes of LGBT culture and ethnicity.

Her portion of the carousel-style show takes place at the Black Cultural Archives, which, among other things, aims to preserve the history of the Windrush generation.

The show will investigate the lives of those who live in Brixton, looking at gentrification and community dissolution, as well as the urban landscape which is in a state of flux.

It aims to retain some of what is in danger of being lost because of these issues.

Expanding on the project, which is a follow-up to Knock Down – Peckham, director, Rebekah Murrell, said it feels like a love letter to Brixton.

“It’s a place we all know is changing rapidly,” said Rebekah. “So it’s both profound and joyous to be able to celebrate what it means for this group of spaces, and incredible artists, who know it best and care deeply for it.”

Brixton House’s Gbolahan Obisesan, artistic director and joint chief executive, said: “Local artists are being given the opportunity to be reflective and playful, to spotlight unique spaces, and foreground the strength of our emotional connections to the environments that nurtured us.

“Working with Dropped Tea allows Brixton House to collaborate with artists in a new way that celebrates cultural memories, and the Brixton community.”

Knock Down – Brixton will run from October 7-9.

 

Pictured: Nassy Konan, Eva Bradley-Williams, and Jesse Bateson. Picture: Michael Shelford