Talented theatre company Worklight have brought back their one man show Labels to the Edinburgh Fringe. The performance premiered in 2015 to rave reviews and has since toured the UK. The show is an important and powerful one and Edinburgh Fringe audiences should not miss out a second time on catching this rare and exciting performance. Labels was born out of global anti-immigration language and behaviour and carries new weight after Brexit and the recent EU referendum.
Labels looks at the words people use to categorise others. It is a show about ‘labels’ and how powerful they can be. Writer and performer Joe Sellman-Leava begins by talking about ethnicity and where people are from. An individual’s cultural background can be different for a wide variety of reasons, therefore a label may not exactly tell the entire story. Throughout the show the performer takes out sticky labels with words written on them. He sticks these labels on his body and hands them out to the audience. They become a constant reminder of how powerful these words can be and also that words spoken and written can be very misleading and tactless.
Sellman-Leava delivers the performance in a relaxing manner. He tackles a big and heavy subject with passion and wit and this allows the audience to sit back, relax and listen. Ultimately we are being told a story and it is an engaging and important one. What could have been an angry and bitter rant against hurtful and harming labels, is instead a warm story about migration and dealing with prejudice. A solution to the problem is not given, but through engaging storytelling we are gripped by a powerful and passionate performance that has the ability to educate, entertain and change opinions and this is a very powerful thing.