Even while winter refuses to let loose its white, spiny grip on the country, plans are well underway for the coming wave of spring and summer theatre festivals and last week I got a taste of two contrasting festival experiences.
In a snow-streaked Leeds, with the wind biting, we explored the different sites for West Yorkshire Playhouse’s forthcoming Transform festival – its third incarnation, running from April 16-27.
The four main festival pieces will take place outside the Playhouse, at sites around the city, with the theatre building itself acting as a kind of hub, the creative and social heart of the festival. The theme of this year’s Transform is My Leeds, My City and each work in its own way will reflect on Leeds, its people, its history. Work will take place in the city’s historic Kirkgate Market, at the Royal Armouries Museum, outside the 1960s tower blocks of Burmantofts in east Leeds, and in a specially constructed trailer, which for the course of the festival will act as a Rage Receptacle, a kind of theatrical drop-in centre where audiences can explore their anger and maybe let off a little steam. WYP’s new artistic director James Brining spoke of his wish to use “the city as a canvas”, to engage with local artists and to look at ways of better connecting the theatre with the city and the community it serves.
A very different festival model is presented by the Brighton Fringe which received its London launch in Soho Theatre’s downstairs cabaret space last week. This is the second year in which the affable Julian Caddy has been managing director and he describes the Fringe as a “waking giant” as it continues to grow in size and scale, running longer this year from May 4 to June 2, and featuring more than 700 events with 40 countries represented.
When I interviewed him about last year’s Fringe he spoke of his desire to learn lessons from his time working at the Edinburgh Fringe and “to support producers, performances and the overall fringe ethos in a much more proactive way”.
It’s an open access festival with an incredibly varied programme and Caddy stressed the pleasure inherent in this unpredictability, the joy of rooting out the gems. The launch event presented a small snapshot of the kind of work audiences can see at this year’s Fringe, including performances from Portmanteau Theatre, a young physical theatre company with more than a dash of RashDash, whose show Let’s Get Angry is on at The Warren, puppetry from Sparkle and Dark with their poignant and delicate show The Girl With No Heart, and a rousing closing set from Jonny and the Baptists, who will be performing at the Komedia Studio on May 4 and 5.
Caroline Horton’s acclaimed Mess – winner of The Stage Award for Best Ensemble at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe – can also be seen there, alongside work by Charlotte Josephine – with the charged, intensely physical Bitch Boxer – and No Fit State Circus.