Casa Festival at the Monochrome Studios
Where to Belong is not a conventional play but rather an intriguing mix of video production, photographs, music, song and even movement along with a very honest style of first-person storytelling aimed directly at the audience.
It outlines the tender, moving autobiographical story of artist and performer Victor Esses’ journey to find home. Esses is Jewish-Lebanese, Brazilian, and gay; a heady mix and what it produces is an extraordinary tale of places, people and experiences encountered on his singular journey.
In 1975, Victor’s mother fled Lebanon as a refugee of the Civil War and, in 2017, Esses visited Lebanon for the first time. In 2018, amidst the elections that saw Brazil choose a far-right president, he traveled from London (“the gayest city in the world”) to São Paulo to show his partner the city of his childhood. This very personal story sees Esses visit Lebanon for the first time, video calling his mother now in Brazil from the Lebanese flat she was forced to abruptly leave.
It is this amazing intimacy, that wins you over, linked with an uncanny ability to transport us to distant places, to Lebanon to Sao Paulo to London with all the associated sights and sounds.
Where to Belong is not just about finding oneself but also about seeking acceptance from those who surround you. What actually is home? Is it the four walls that surround us, is it the person we spend time with or is it a feeling and sense of place? In one of many audience interactions, Esses ask the audience to write down what we would take if we had to leave home tonight. Just thinking it through gave us an inkling of what a calamity such a question presents to so many people around the world today as they flee their home.
This will be on a UK Tour until October 14th : for details https://www.victoresses.com/wheretobelongtourREVIEW : JONNY WARDJonny Ward, Queerguru Contributing EDITOR is a drama graduate but has worked backstage for many years at venues such as The ROYAL ALBERT Hall, The 02, Southbank Centre and most recently at The NATIONAL THEATRE. He lives in Hoxton, London, and is delighted to check out the latest, the hottest, and the downright dodgy in queer culture for Queerguru. (P.S. He is currently single) @JonnyWard360
Labels: 2021, Jonny Ward, London Theatre, review
