My London Trip: Part Three - Labels

So, I didn't see this show in London.  Rather, I saw it in Oxford.  "Labels" is a one person show written and performed by Joe Sellman-Leava.  The show was an award winner at Edinburgh Fringe Festival and other festivals.  It looked interesting, so off we went.

The theatre in Oxford was a small black box.  It had the audience on three sides, but only three rows of chairs on each side.

The name of the play gives away that the theme of the show is the various "labels" which societies place upon people - rightly or wrongly.   The show is mostly about ethnic identity - a major label - but one that Mr. Sellman-Leava strives to, not necessarily overcome, but to get others to overcome. It is his story of growing up "mixed-race" in England in the 1990s and why his family name was changed to Sellman-Leava. While he was born in the UK, his father, I believe, was born in Uganda but whose family originally was from India..  His mother is a white British person. The Indian population of Uganda was forced out by Idi Amin in 1972 and Joe was born in England. Mr. Sellman-Leava mimics his father's accent, while he himself has a local British accent.

While the play was autobiographical, it seeks to make strong statements against anti-immigration rhetoric and bias. Throughout the play, Mr. Sellman-Leava would interject - and mimic - various anti-immigrant comments by politicians - British, Australian, South African and American.  In opposition to the political rhetoric is his family's story.   He places a human face on the damage anti-immigrant bias can cause.

Mr. Sellman-Leava uses a trunk throughout for props and costume to good effect.  Mr. Sellman-Leava also involves the audience in the show - asking them to read quotes or paragraphs and to interact with him.  A dramatic point comes when he has a woman in the audience read from the transcript of an online dating service chat which Mr. Sellman-Leava had.

Reactions to the show have generally been positive.  While this is Mr. Sellman-Leava's personal story - it rises above that story and asks audience members to self-examine for both the labels which have been attached to them and the labels the audience attaches to others. While, at times, the show devolves into a polemic, it never becomes a rant nor accuses its audience of overt racism.  It is a strong show and does what excellent theatre can do - gets it audience to think.

As a fringe show, the total show time was about an hour.  The hour was over too quickly.