Housemates – the new festival in Brixton House

From 21 April to 6 May, Brixton House, the newly-opened state of the art cultural centre in the heart of Brixton, will become home to eight London artists to display their creative talents. On show will be a mix of theatre, comedy, spoken word and dance – curated by Artistic Director Gbolahan Obisesan. The works explore themes which will strike a chord with the local community and reflect the venue’s commitment to working with new independent artists

Winnie Arhin’s  Big Girl Words and Shakira Newton’s Things I Can Laugh About Now explore issues of self-discovery as the two characters confront different struggles associated with coming-of-age.

Dance mixed with words and music create a powerful alchemy in both Sonny Nwachukwu’s choreopoem Saturn Returns and Caitlin Barnett’s Comrades in the Dark. These pieces look at the destructive effect on individuals of oppression and their efforts to maintain their identity and search for redemption.

 British Comedy Guide Pro Performance Awards runner-up 2021, Suchandrika Chakrabarti’s I Miss Amy Winehouse goes big on nostalgia and partying hard.

Queer identity and belonging feature in the semi-autobiographical Concha by Carly Fernandez while For The Love Of A Primary Caregiver by Cheryl May Ndione looks at a toxic bond between a mother and daughter. 

Closing the festival is Corey Bovell’s Chicken Burger N Chips which takes a witty look at the impact of gentrification on the lives of young people in South London.

Artistic Director and Joint CEO Gbolahan Obisesan said: “Housemates festival was born out of our open Housecall. Many artists had made work prior to or during the pandemic and very much wanted to find a home for their efforts and stories to be seen and appreciated. A number of these artists have been chosen and curated for this inaugural event in celebration of our wider artistic communities sharing distinctive experiences that we believe will speak to Brixton House audiences. 

We have high hopes for the journey these pieces will go on and hopefully amongst them will be returning titles in our programme. We hope the festival will grow in the future beyond our building as a Brixton wide showcase of ambitious emerging artists with new work, new narratives and new forms of storytelling that speaks to our communities and intergenerational audiences for years and reveals a new canon from Brixton House. “

For more detail and the full line up go to: https://brixtonhouse.co.uk/housemates-festival

Listings Information

Dates: 21 April – 6 May 2022 

Prices: Ticket deal: Book for two shows in the Housemates Festival for only £15. 

Booking Link: https://brixtonhouse.co.uk/housemates-festival