The Real Voices of the Estate

Mixing live theatre, digital media and stories taken from real life interviews, The Talking Drum: Voices from the Andover Estate is a piece of verbatim theatre giving voice to those who society tries to write off. Born from an oral history project for London Metropolitan University by Professor John Gabriel, Dr Alya Khan and Gulser Rose Kaya, the testimonies of over forty residents of an Islington community are adapted for the stage by writer-director Tony Graham. Half a century’s worth of authentic local experiences challenge the pervasive media tropes associated with social housing, in this timely theatrical reflection on class.

Spanning over five decades, The Talking Drum: Voices from the Andover Estate brings together a variety of real stories to build a counter-narrative to the postcode prejudice faced by social housing residents in Islington. The audience meets a former ballerina rocked by homelessness, a youth worker and student grappling with societal labels, a resident determined to hold local authorities to account and another with dreams of drumming.