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My Tragedy is a one-night performance work written and curated by Hunter Boyd, comprising three consecutive performances directed by Alex Heard, Emma Alvin + Gulliver Whitby, and Jaya Twill, and presented in collaboration with Sophie Barshall.
The invited directors have each produced a distinct interpretation of the same dramatic text. Each interpretation has been developed independently, without knowledge of the others’ approaches.
Preceding the dramatic text is a set of instructions that define the linguistic, structural, and performative conditions from which each director devises an autonomous performance of My Tragedy. The text itself draws from theatrical, literary, and theoretical sources, as well as the languages of advertising, luxury branding, and popular culture, shifting rapidly between textual modes to create a deliberately unstable collage. While its narrative structure is rooted in the tradition of classical tragedy, the story is situated within a recognisably contemporary cultural landscape, bringing different temporal registers into relation.
The participating directors have existing practices spanning performance art, video, installation, and theatre, bringing these methods to their respective performances. As My Tragedy unfolds, the relationship between the three performances becomes part of the work’s larger structure, forming a meta-performance in which the text is refracted, contested, and reinvented as it is subjected to accumulating acts of interpretation.
The invited directors have each produced a distinct interpretation of the same dramatic text. Each interpretation has been developed independently, without knowledge of the others’ approaches.
Preceding the dramatic text is a set of instructions that define the linguistic, structural, and performative conditions from which each director devises an autonomous performance of My Tragedy. The text itself draws from theatrical, literary, and theoretical sources, as well as the languages of advertising, luxury branding, and popular culture, shifting rapidly between textual modes to create a deliberately unstable collage. While its narrative structure is rooted in the tradition of classical tragedy, the story is situated within a recognisably contemporary cultural landscape, bringing different temporal registers into relation.
The participating directors have existing practices spanning performance art, video, installation, and theatre, bringing these methods to their respective performances. As My Tragedy unfolds, the relationship between the three performances becomes part of the work’s larger structure, forming a meta-performance in which the text is refracted, contested, and reinvented as it is subjected to accumulating acts of interpretation.
Bios
Alex Heard is an artist working with performance, video and installation. Recent shows include Are You Having Any Fun? with The Pegram Collection (Kupper Modern, Zürich) and KUNSTINDUSTRIE (Seventeen Gallery, London).
Emma Alvin is a Swedish artist and party designer based in London. Across installation and performance, she explores ritual, desire, collective behaviour and the tension between euphoria and collapse.
Gulliver A. Whitby works across video and performance, in conversation with haphazard psychoanalytic methodologies and ideas of the cinematic. Interested in human becoming, and likes 5th dimensionality.
Jaya Twill is an artist, writer and actress from Texas based in London. She builds worlds around romanticised notions of America, in which her characters discuss consumption, propaganda, and belief, whilst succumbing to varying forms of hysteria.
Book tickets
Sat, 03 Oct 2026
Stage
07:00 pm
Ticket information
- All tickets that do not require ID (full price, disabled, income support) can be printed at home or stored in email
- For aged-based concession tickets (under 25, student) please bring relevant ID to collect at the front desk before the event.
Access information
Stage
- The Stage has step free access via The Mall entrance and lift. The lift in the Stage is self-controlled with hand control, with two buttons for up and down (max weight 300kg). It is without sides and includes a vertical pole to hold on to. It operates quietly and will not disrupt the performance. Our Public Advisors can also assist.
- We have a small, raised platform to accommodate wheelchair users or others who require a chair. To request, please purchase a ticket, then contact the box office during opening hours on 020 7930 3647 or email access@ica.art
- If you have other access requirements, need more info, or want to contact us, go to the Access Page
7 - Doors
7.30 - Performances
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Alex Heard. Photo by Mack Pegram, courtesy of the artist.
Gulliver A. Whitby. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Emma Alvin. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Jaya Twill. Photo by Ellen Dunne, courtesy of the artist.
