Radical Ideas: Finding Our Voice(s)

A mutual exploration of the voices influencing our sense of belonging, through the radical idea of ‘stand up therapy’.

You enter the performance space welcomed by the performer dressed in Yoruba (Nigerian) outfit, greeting you Yoruba - style. You might be tempted to ask: ‘what has any of this to do with the East End?’ The performer introduces the piece as ‘stand up therapy’, a radical idea combining storytelling, comedy, ‘lecture’ and ‘therapy’ (self reflection) but it is all and none of these things.

You are therefore advised to manage any expectations of being entertained or ‘healed’ by the end of the piece. The performer proceeds to tell the story of Omoluwabi (‘child of good character’), born in the East End, who left for Nigeria as a child and returned as an adult to an East End he barely recognises from his nostalgic musings.

Can he fit into this new multicultural melting pot which is undergoing change in the form of gentrification? What aspects of this new ‘culture’ does he embrace? What, if anything, has the Yoruba culture he grew up with got to offer this new East End? Within the story you are invited to reflect on the various, sometimes conflicting, voices that may challenge one’s sense of belonging.