'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).

A review excerpt from The Play's The Thing UK by Laura Kressly.

Since 2013, Natasha Langridge has watched her neighbourhood become unrecognisable. As the developers and their machinery creep ever closer with every passing month, she documents their journey along side her love life. Birds sing in trees as she falls in love with Dave who lives in Korea, and those trees are chopped down as she gets off with her much younger Drama Lover.

"Both a love letter and a lament to London and its obscene housing crisis, In Memory of Leaves is an intensely personal one-woman show exploring love, loss and gentrification. Performed on a boat that will cruise the canals of London, this play touches on poignant themes to varying degrees of effectiveness; but Natasha Langridge remains stoic, raw and likeable throughout."

Tucked up on a boat on the Grand Union Canal near Westbourne Park station, I feel an immense sense of community with my fellow audience members. We’re packed in, physically touching, and bound together in this powerful moment of political theatre. Outside, London roars: emergency services rush past and commuters wander home from work. We are at once inhabiting a theatrical space and a public area for all to share.

Excerpts from Fringe Review by Simon Jenner:

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"… It’s a unique experience, where Langridge works with Jayne McVeigh on supple fluid movement through the barge’s space, and Lisa Goldberg’s dramaturgy perhaps helps to tighten and interrogate the appalling assault of real events on the heart of an already powerfully-freighted play."

Hi Natasha, could you tell me a little bit more about In Memory of Leaves and what audiences can expect?

"A rhythmic roller coaster of passion, rage, sex and politics. It’s the raw truth from the mouth of someone (me) living through the emotional and physical consequences of ‘regeneration’ on an estate in North Kensington. Performed on a boat that sways when I move."

What was the main inspiration for the show?

London Theatre Guide   
Natasha Langridge interview - Why I'm performing my work on a wide beam barge.

Natasha Langridge tells us about touring London on a canal boat with a tale of destruction and love, In Memory Of Leaves.

Meyer Whitworth Award-winning writer and performer Natasha Langridge tours In Memory Of Leaves around London this October. There's nothing unusual about that. Many shows are on tour around the capital. But she's taking her venue with her. And it floats.

Langridge performs her autobiographical one-woman play aboard the Fordham Gallery Barge, which docks with the production in three locations this autumn.

In Memory of Leaves, Natasha Langridge:    
“Add to the wave; we are at a point where it is sink or swim.”

100 days on and the scorched tower remains exposed and bare. The tragedy at Grenfell Tower, in which at least 80 people died, highlights the long neglect of social housing. It’s part of a bigger problem. A problem that playwright, performer & activist Natasha Langridge is keen to shine a light on.

I had a chat with the lady herself on the phone recently.

Had a great interview today at the BBC Radio London with Nikki Bedi, who was standing in for Jo Good to promote In Memory of Leaves On a Boat.