Kumiko Mendl, founder member of leading British East and South East Asian (BESEA) theatre company New Earth Theatre, today announces her decision to step down from her role as Artistic Director after 11 years, leaving the company in 2024.

New Earth Theatre was founded in 1995 by Mendl, David K.S. Tse, Tom Wu, Veronica Needa and Kwong Loke under the name Yellow Earth Theatre.  Since becoming the Artistic Director in 2011, Mendl has championed the work of British East and South East Asian artists and communities; spearheaded a rebranding to New Earth and established strong creative support systems for BESEA artistic and community networks.

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The very notion of discussing mental health in the 1960s would have been unthinkable, a reality of society often sidelined and viewed upon as a taboo subject. How internal emotional and psychological struggles manifest varies dependent on the individual, in certain cases, bringing about devastating consequences. Decades on and it’s starting to become socially acceptable to discuss mental health openly, but there’s a long way to go still. Following the mysterious death of a young woman in 1969, Two Thousand and One’s unsettling production Conscience observes the interrogation of a suspect – mental health an underlying factor throughout the narrative.

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Today, Friday 04 August 2023, marks the official start of the 76^th Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which will run until Monday 28 August 2023.  Artists from 72 countries will be represented at the Fringe this August, with 973 shows from Scotland and 469 from Edinburgh itself!

The vision of the Fringe is to give anyone a stage and everyone a seat, and this year the average ticket price is less than £12, allowing audiences to experience a variety of work at a relatively low cost.  There are also 439 free shows at this year’s Fringe, and another 614 using the ‘pay what you want’ or ‘pay what you can’ model.

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Sadler’s Wells’ Barclays Dance Pass now has 20,000 members, with 1,000 young people enjoying £10 tickets for Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet this month through the scheme.

Launched in January 2020, Barclays Dance Pass is Sadler’s Wells’ ticket scheme offering £10 tickets to 16 to 30-year-olds as part of a major partnership with Barclays. Barclays Dance Pass makes available 10,000 tickets per year at £10 each to those registered with the scheme. No booking fee applies, and registered Barclays Dance Pass holders can purchase two tickets per production.

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Today, National Theatre and Audible have released a new podcast, New Voices, featuring ten plays from shortlisted and winning New Views playwrights. The New Voices series aims to celebrate and platform the next generation of writing talent from across the UK.

The plays, originally written by young people for the National Theatre’s New Views programme, have been adapted especially for audio as part of the Audible Original podcast, New Voices. Audible and the NT have worked with these new writers to support them through the adaptation process and give them first-hand experience of the commissioning, audio development and audio recording process.

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After months of anticipation, Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group is excited to announce that its first-ever immersive experience on Roblox – Cirque du Soleil Tycoon – is now available to all community members. In partnership with the leading metaverse game developer, Gamefam, families around the globe can now experience Cirque du Soleil’s newest contemporary circus show, ECHO, and raise the Big Top from the comfort of their homes.
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Rob Madge.

A Spotlight On, a streaming home for theatre content, aims to shine a light on everyone who contributes to the magic of theatre.

A Spotlight On has continued to collaborate with its audience since its launch in April 2023, and after being inspired by its growing community, A Spotlight On has now decided to remove the paywall on more than 100+ pieces of our content.

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Today, 1 August 2023, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society is pleased to announce a new strategic partnership with Nouveau Riche Productions. The partnership aims to understand how to address barriers to participation for Black and/or Global Majority artists at the Fringe.

The partnership will initially last six months and will focus on the shared ambitions of Nouveau Riche and the Fringe Society in providing support, resources and signposting for under-represented artists who face barriers to participation, and/or experience unsafe working environments, when taking part in the Fringe – specifically artists who identify as Black and/or Global Majority.

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