In Memory of Leaves on a Boat | MyLondon interview

'Regeneration means demolition': Artist performs monologue about destruction of her home in west London.

The monologue is being performed on a barge at three docks across London.

West London-based Natasha Langridge is performing an emotional monologue about the demolition of her home on the Wornington Green housing estate in North Kensington.

The production, In Memory of Leaves, opened on Fordham Gallery Barge at Meanwhile Gardens in Kensington on Wednesday (October 4).

On Wednesday (October 11), the barge sailed to Camden Lock for the second week of the tour and it will finish its journey at Hackney Wick on Wednesday (October 21).

Ms Langridge told getwestlondon: "I wanted to do the play on a boat to go out to communities that are affected by 'regeneration'."

The housing estate where Ms Langridge lives has been "gradually" knocked down by developers as part of a revamp project known as Portobello Square.

"The whole estate will be gone in three years." she said.

According to housing association Catalyst, which owns and manages the estate, 1,000 new homes and modern community facilities will be built as part of the project.

But for Ms Langridge, who won the Meyer-Whitworth award for her book Shraddha, "regeneration means demolished."

"It means that they are building luxury flats that nobody around here can afford to live in," she added.

Ms Langridge continued: "The whole community is being broken up and everything is changing."

"There is a lot of character around here and there are lots of old shops and food markets, and I don't know what will happen to them when the regeneration is complete."

Described as an "intimate" performance, Ms Langridge's monologue takes the audience on the artist's journey of "being displaced from home" and "watching the trees she loves being massacred."

In addition, Ms Landridge, who has lived in west London for four years, wants to use her performance to raise awareness of the refugee crisis and the Grenfell Tower disaster.

She said: "Grenfell really was a consequence of the political culture that we have had for the last 30 years, particularly in this borough."

"It's heartbreaking, because I am witnessing the last few years of a community."

Tickets for the show cost £10 for adults and £5 for students. Grenfell Tower survivors can attend free of charge.

Interview by Catarina Demony | Photography: Yui Mok