The Place has announced a call out for artists to take part in Resolution, its annual festival for choreography and performance work that’s taking place Thu 18 May – Fri 16 Jun 2023.
WhatsOnStage today announces that the 23rd Annual WhatsOnStage Awards will take place on Sunday 12 February 2023, at a West End theatre to be announced. As well as seeing the winners crowned across a range of categories, theatregoers will also enjoy a host of exclusive live performances from top stage talent. The event is co-produced with creative directors Alex Parker and Damian Sandys.
Founded a decade ago in 2012 to platform the work of marginalised artists, performance venue Ugly Duck, located in Bermondsey – South East London, has been at the forefront of working with performance artists who are not afraid of exploring lesser talked about themes. Their @Disturbance Festival, now in its 4th year specifically created to showcase LGBTQ+ artists and stories. Set to show Simple Relations No.4, a performance made for camera that queers the use of everyday objects to explore the complexities of living in a gender fluid body in the Southern United States as part of Ugly Duck’s 10th year anniversary on the 10th, 11th and 12th of November, video artist Sandrine Schaefer tells us what inspired them to explore the show’s themes further, how they’ve approached creating the filmed performance and what can be expected!
Courtesy of Yannick Malady.
Having premiered earlier on this year at Rich Mix as part of Certain Blacks’ Shipbuilding Festival, Livia Kojo Alour’s one woman show Black Sheep, the story of a Black woman finding love and a testament of personal strength, developed through transcending the white gaze, overcoming institutional racism and leaning into radical vulnerability returns to Jackson’s Lane Arts Centre on the 15th and 16th November. Ahead of the production, Livia tells us more about the show’s development, publishing Rising of the Black Sheep with Polaris Press – an anthology drawing on the show’s themes further and what to expect from the show.
Migration forms part of our human existence, a necessary step to salvation, escaping a reality incapable of protection, hope and love. Whether you yourself have directly migrated, or from a lineage of those who have done so, this is a life altering experience that shapes communities. Drawing from this facet of humanity, dancers and choreographers Kristina and Sadé Alleyne present Far From Home, an existential dance work summing up what it means to be disconnected from loved ones out of necessity, and long for reunion.
Courtesy of Camilla Greenwell.
Ensuring the health needs of the population are tended to within current constraints, the relentless forces that power the NHS no doubt themselves deserve a fair work/life balance and appreciation. Often overworked and underpaid, health professionals power through overwhelming work days with little to no rest, mental health taking a back seat and, the needs of everyone else taking first priority. Zoning in on a doctor working on the frontlines of an unnamed hospital ward, Nathan Ellis‘ Super High Resolution clasps onto what is to be on top of your game, in spite of being overwhelmed with the non-forgiving feeling of burnout and feeling voiceless.
Courtesy of Helen Murray.
Courtesy of Orlando Myxx.
Founded a decade ago in 2012 to platform the work of marginalised artists, performance venue Ugly Duck, located in Bermondsey – South East London, has been at the forefront of working with performance artists who are not afraid of exploring lesser talked about themes. Their @Disturbance Festival, now in its 4th year specifically created to showcase LGBTQ+ artists and stories. Set to show The Earth’s Monologue, a piece exploring the intersection of race and gender which will encompass performance and video art as part of Ugly Duck’s 10th year anniversary on the 10th,11th and 12th of November, artist Joy Kincaid tells us how their feeling ahead of the event, exploring the show’s themes further and what they’ve taken away from the creative process!
The award-winning charity Open Door – which counts the likes of Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, Riz Ahmed, David Morrissey and Amanda Redman among its supporters – is to hold auditions for its 2023 intake in six cities across the UK as it seeks to unearth new stars of stage and screen who would otherwise slip through the net.
Due to the financial barriers that are associated with the interviews and auditions that applicants, including those wishing to study acting and those interested in technical theatre and production arts, have to attend, a high percentage of those wishing to apply simply can’t afford the chance to be seen. According to the The Working Class Creatives Database (WCCD) manifesto, only 16% of the UK’s creative workforce are from lower-socioeconomic backgrounds.
Courtesy of Zbigniew Tomasz Kotkiewicz.
Founded a decade ago in 2012 to platform the work of marginalised artists, performance venue Ugly Duck, located in Bermondsey – South East London, has been at the forefront of working with performance artists who are not afraid of exploring lesser talked about themes. Their @Disturbance Festival, now in its 4th year specifically created to showcase LGBTQ+ artists and stories. Set to show The Plastic Drag, a visual and sound work investigating how a new wave of underrepresented gender-non-conforming and diverse drag artists are redefining the art of drag and its subversive potential as part of Ugly Duck’s 10th year anniversary on the 10th,11th and 12th of November, artist Orlando Myxx tells us more about how they’ve approached creating the piece, what’s been learned from creating the piece and what the audience can expect!
Founded a decade ago in 2012 to platform the work of marginalised artists, performance venue Ugly Duck, located in Bermondsey – South East London, has been at the forefront of working with performance artists who are not afraid of exploring lesser talked about themes. Their @Disturbance Festival, now in its 4th year specifically created to showcase LGBTQ+ artists and stories. Set to show I found a dead bird, an exploration of the marginalized queer experience of growing up in small town in southern China as part of Ugly Duck’s 10th year anniversary on the 10th,11th and 12th of November, Artist River Cao’s mesmerizing artistic practice spans the realms of installation, video, and performance, wrapped in a poetic meditation on the theme of mourning. Through his perspective, he reveals his encounters, musings, and memories, using the medium of landscape and deftly employing metaphors to explore sadness, subjectivity, and existence. Calm waters and untouched landscapes frequently appear in his previous works, leading the audience to gaze into his inner world. On this journey, one finds oneself confronted with a reimagined melancholy, contradiction and comfort are mutually entangled, and Cao’s evocative creation makes the audience pause in front of his work. Artist River Cao tells us more about exploring the shows themes further, what it means to be a part of Ugly Duck’s 10th year celebrations and what the audience can expect! Continue reading