Waiting for myself to appear is set in and inspired by the atmospheric restored 18th century almshouse at the Geffrye Museum of the Home in Hoxton, East London.
Created by Hackney-based writer Michael McMillan and performed by Esther Niles, this intimate one-woman show weaves together contemporary and historic stories on black female identity, independence, migration and gentrification.
It is accompanied by music and visuals from Dubmorphology.
In a performance which moves between present and past, we meet Alisha, a young British Caribbean woman, growing up in a gentrified Hackney. Alisha works at the museum and spends time looking through the archives.
She reads of a black woman from Jamaica who worked as a wet nurse for Grace Belmore Sweeney. Grace grows up and marries the Geffrye almshouse chaplain, but nothing more is documented of the nurse.
Who was she? What happened to her? What if we could meet her again? In her curiosity, Alisha reimagines and embodies the nurse as Mary Anne.
Both Alisha and Mary Anne live in times of dramatic change for Hackney and the wider world. Through their histories we see parallels emerging across time and generations.
Performance duration 45 minutes. Please note there is no step-free access within the almshouse. The main museum is currently closed for a major redevelopment and will reopen in summer 2020.
Geffrye Almshouse, 136 Kingsland Road, Hoxton, London E2 8EA. Nearest station: Hoxton (Overground), buses 149, 242, 243, 394. info@geffrye-museum.org.uk
Until 27 October 2019 – during Black History Month
Thursdays and Fridays at 7pm and 8.30pm / Saturdays and Sundays at 3pm and 4.30pm / Age 14+
Tickets £15 at www.geffrye-museum.org.uk/whatson/