The Show/Sellman-Leava’s Methodology
In 2015, Joe Sellman-Leava took his show Labels to the Edinburgh Fringe, which achieved critical acclaim. The show is primarily about Joe’s personal experiences with growing up in 90s Britain as a child of a “white-British mother and a British-Asian father” (Sellman-Leava, 2015) and the personal experiences he had with labels. As the son of an interracial couple, “Joe has found himself labelled – but then he, like all of us, has done his share of labelling, too.” (Stott, 2015). Labels offers an unhinged, humorous look into Joe’s life as well as the hypocrisy of the country we live in when regarding immigration. the show and it’s subject matter is delivered in “an endearing manner, a naturally mellow voice, a wry smile and a pensive hesitancy, but that doesn’t stop him getting angry and indignant when he relates tales of injustice, ignorance, bullying and discrimination. What we hear is challenging and captivating” (Beck, 2015).
What I learned
Sellman-Leava’s autobiographical work not only informs an audience about his own life but a personal look at “the history of race relations in Britain, the rhetoric of the immigration debate and the power of language” (Beck, 2015). Labels has taught me that one of the uses of autobiographical text and story is not just to tell an audience about your own life; autobiography can be utilised in order to educate people about society. Just like Sellman-Leava, I wish to use my own autobiographical content to inform the audience of what it was like growing up in working-class Rotherham and the difficulty of peeling yourself away from the societal mould that you’ve been plastered to. Labels has given me the inspiration to not only tell my own story – but to tell the story of Rotherham as well.
“‘Where are you from? No, where are you actually from?’ It’s a question that Joe Sellman-Leava has been asked throughout his life, and the answer is Cheltenham.” (Stott, 2015)
Works Cited:
Beck, R. (2015) Labels. Broadway Baby. 17 August. Available from http://www.broadwaybaby.com/shows/labels/707471 [Accessed 4th May 2016]
Sellman-Leava, J. (2015) Labels: Reading Fringe 2015. [Online Video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTKiTvES3HE [Accessed 4th May 2016]
Stott, S. (2015) THEATRE REVIEW: LABELS. Wow 24/7. 17 August. Available from http://www.wow247.co.uk/2015/08/17/theatre-review-labels/ [Accessed 4th May 2016]