' An infectiously defiant spirit ... linguistically versatile and politically charged ... heartening" Time Out****

Written by Gbolahan Obisesan, Cressida Brown and Emily Randall, 'Home' tells the story of a family living on the Beaumont Estate in the present day, mere months before the planned demolition of the 3 iconic Beaumont Towers. It is inspired by the words and stories of residents interviewed by Offstage Theatre, which are dramatised to create a unique piece of site-specific work that takes place in real-time as audiences are led around the different rooms of a vacated flat in St Catherine's Tower.

    
               
      The ‘Street Warden’ (Anna Jordan) guides the audience into and around the space, relating information about family members and the estate's history, whilst the 3 family members, ‘Mother’ (Miranda Cook), ‘Son’ (Abdoulie Mboob) and ‘Daughter’ (Géhane Strehler) are seen in the grip of a tumultuous change in their lives: an unknown (but clearly violent) event has taken place the night before, involving the daughter's boyfriend, PJ, and she is faced with entering into his dangerous world and losing her family, or leaving the estate.    
Each character has a distinctive and expressive lyrical style: the Daughter delivers an explosive rap about being torn between the local gang and wanting to escape the estate. She captivates the audience with her rhythmical speech and entices them into her world by drawing them into her graffiti covered bedroom to a soundtrack of hypnotic beats.    
The Son is a dreamer: he dreams of being a boxer in the 2012 Olympics and his monologue paints an evocative picture of life high up in St Catherine’s Tower, far from the gangland troubles below. He shares the secret world he has created for himself up on the roof of the tower with the audience, a world in which he dreams of playing real life Monopoly with his girlfriend against the backdrop of London’s skyline.
The Mother struggles to keep her children from falling prey to the pressures of contemporary urban life and abandoning their dreams, and takes the audience on a poetic journey that reveals the truth behind the Beaumont Estate and the lives of its residents over the past 4 decades.    
                 
 

In following the drama as it unfolds, the audience is taken on a tour of the tower – from the communal rubbish shoots to the inside of the family’s flat. The urgency lent to the narrative by the impending destruction of the vibrant and troubled location in which it is set is made all the more powerful by the ever-changing stage on which the story unfolds, the stage which is the very home of this Beaumont Estate family.

"A coup de théâtre ... a piece at once human, gripping, touching ... impeccably sensitive and nuanced. I consider myself priviledged to have seen this very fine production." What's On Stage

 
       
       
 
           
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