Blue Plaques Talk Back, featuring Mishal Husain, Nish Kumar, Dr. Carol Jacobi and Lauren Cuthbertson, hosted by Hannah MacInnes.

Blue Plaques Talk Back, in partnership with Banham

Blue Plaques Talk Back returns to Chelsea Arts Festival following their riveting launch event at the festival in 2025.  This unique, immersive, live show celebrates four iconic – or intriguingly overlooked – blue plaques, chosen specifically for their connection to the surrounding neighbourhood. The result is a performance of history and culture, brought vividly to life. At this edition of Blue Plaques Talk Back, you will hear the stories of Jawaharlal Nehru, Princess Serafina Astafieva, Jimi Hendrix and James McNeill Whistler.

Ballet star Lauren Cuthbertson, Principal Dancer at the Royal Ballet, will discuss the work of Russian ballerina and teacher Princess Serafina Astafieva who laid the foundational bedrock for classical British ballet. Princess Serafina’s Blue Plaque adorns the famous Pheasantry building on the King’s Road, where her studio was located – there she taught Margot Fonteyn, Anton Dolin, Marie Rambert and other ballet greats.

Mishal Husain, celebrated broadcaster, writer and journalist, will be in conversation reflecting on the legacy of one of the Twentieth Century’s defining political figures Jawaharlal Nehru, first Prime Minister of independent India. Husain’s personal family history of the 1947 Partition of Pakistan and India, is documented in her poignant memoir Broken Threads: My Family from Empire to Independence. The book traces the lives of her four grandparents during the fall of the British Empire.

Critically Acclaimed Comedian, TV Presenter, and Podcaster Nish Kumar, joins the event to discuss the Blue Plaque of his idol Jimi Hendrix, the guitarist and songwriter whose influence on music endures to this day.

Dr Carol Jacobi is Curator of British Art at Tate Britain and lead curator of the museum’s major James McNeill Whistler retrospective, running until 27th September. Dr Jacobi joins the event to explore the blue plaque commemorating one of Chelsea’s most celebrated artists, and to share her insights into bringing this landmark exhibition together.

At each event, stories behind the plaques are transformed into short, dramatic performances by professional actors.  These theatrical moments are then followed by in-depth, informal conversations with distinguished guests – figures whose lives or careers have been shaped, inspired, or touched by the individual commemorated on the plaque.

Blue Plaques Talk Back live is brilliantly hosted by Hannah MacInnes, broadcaster, journalist and podcaster, who has conducted interviews with hundreds of figures from culture and politics. She regularly appears on Times Radio and currently leads the How To Academy‘s live events schedule and podcast series. Her writing has featured in the Radio Times, The Standard, TLS, and writes on Substack as The Conversationist.

One final Blue Plaque and speaker will be announced soon.

Last year Sir Stephen Fry joined Hannah MacInnes in conversation about Oscar Wilde, Dennis Morris on Bob Marley, Lyse Doucet on Martha Gellhorn, and Kathryn Hughes on George Eliot.  

Blue Plaques Talk Back is produced by Storystock Sounds. Find out more at www.storystocksounds.com

*Please note, all artists will appear subject to availability. Artists listed are correct at time of going to publication, in the unlikely event that an artist needs to cancel we reserve the right to amend the line up without notice and no refunds will be due.