For the Love of Spam
So what does a delicious can of SPAM have to do with colonialism and Asian identity? Guamanian artist, Sierra Sevilla, attempts to answer this in her hilarious one-woman show: For the Love of Spam.
Sierra is a Chamoru/Filipina theatre maker in London, originally from the island of Guam. She’s passionate about shifting immigrant narratives, telling unique and diasporic stories that directly challenge the current political immigration rhetoric/policies. Using her Applied Theatre background, she uses multidisciplinary techniques to bring these stories to life. She has worked with Camden People’s Theatre, The Pleasance, New Earth Theatre, Breaking Wave Theatre (Guam), Pentabus Theatre and RichMix.
Dates: December 14 & 16; 7 pm and 8:45 pm
Where: The Pleasance Theatre, Carpenters Mews, North Road, London N7 9EF
Tickets are pay-what-you-can (starting at £6, use promo code SPAM20 for 20% discount)
Book here.
Borderlands: As Above, So Below
Directed by Andrea Ling, Borderlands: As Above, So Below brings together extracts from Rogelio Braga’s story of two powerful transpinay mambabarang (sorceresses) living in London with material charting the rise of fascism in the Philippines and the hostile environment in Britain. Deploying the Filipino concepts of paglublob at pakikisangkot (to plunge and to engage), the evening invites a discussion – between migrants, non-migrants, and activist and labour organisations – to create a counter-language to the hostile environment.
Rogelio Braga is an exiled playwright, novelist, essayist, publisher, and human rights activist from the Philippines. They had published two novels, a collection of short stories, and a book of plays before leaving the archipelago in 2018. Braga was a fellow of the Asian Cultural Council in 2016 for research on political resistance in theatre and performance across Southeast Asia. Their works were read and performed at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Manila, Mercury Theatre in Colchester, National Theatre Studio, Soho Theatre, and St. Paul’s Cathedral as part of the 50 Monuments and 50 Voices. Miss Philippines (New Earth Theatre) is their first play written entirely in the English language was recently awarded by the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain in their inaugural New Play Commission Scheme. Braga currently lives and writes in London as a refugee under the Convention.
This project has been produced by Harris Albar, in association with New Earth Theatre.
Date: Wednesday, 17 January 2024, 7 pm
Where: Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, London SW1W 8AS
Book here.
