The sun is shining…summer is just around the corner… so this can only mean one thing… It’s festival season! Whether you’re looking to head over to this year’s Glastonbury Festival, Latitude Festival, Radio 1’s Big Weekend, Edinburgh Festival, the list goes on and on, you’re guaranteed to find something to appeal to you! However, what better way to kick off the festival season than to make your way down to this year’s Brighton Fringe Festival!
As the largest Theatre Festival in England prepares for a month full of showcasing new voices, diverse theatre and discussions, The Brighton Fringe Festival 2015 is set to once again liven up one of the UK’s most popular coastal settings. The idyllic seaside town will become the UK’s theatrical capital for the duration of May, with thousands of performances taking place in over 100 venues. The festival prides itself on showcasing a diverse range of art forms and is therefore the place to be if you fancy watching challenging and unconventional pieces of theatre and performance.
During our lifetime, we’re taught that our GCSEs, A-Levels and University Degree’s will bring us that one step closer to attaining our dream job role. However, in the real world, this couldn’t be further from the truth. With the issue of youth unemployment being a divisive topic within politics and the media, what can be done to combat the situation? Ahead of the large scale Tangled Feet production One Million, which tackles the youth unemployment issue, physical theatre performer Jessica Andrade speaks to Theatrefullstop about returning to the production, why it’s important to make theatrical experiences more accessible and why she will never be defined as a conventional circus performer!
You’re currently touring with Tangled Feet in their production of One Million. Could you describe what the production is about?
One Million is a show about the unemployed youth from 16-25 (years of age). As we all have the experience of going to school, going to Uni, getting your degree; its that time where everyone thinks the world is their oyster and you find out it isn’t. Doing the show, we reflect on the emotions that you go through after graduating and you think the world is a playground. We go through a playground state where we’re just playing and seeing what it’s about. You realise how many people are applying for the same job, so we reflect that in the show by the amount of people. We’ve got 9 full cast members, 40 young people, they’re our participation lot, then we’ve got a 9 man band and a poet.