Celebrating European theatre with BE FESTIVAL

BE FESTIVAL which celebrates the best of European theatre, returns to the Birmingham Rep from February 15-18.

This winter season features work from the UK, Ireland, Germany, Spain and Belgium.

It is set to stretch the boundaries of what theatre can be and deal with a wide range of important contemporary issues such as memory, loss and ecofeminism.

The winter season will see the commitments, made to artists before lockdown, realised.

Isla Aguilar and Miguel Oyarzun, Directors of BE FESTIVAL, said: “Much of our February 2022 programme is looking to question, challenge, and also to find a way to rebuild relationships with artists, audiences and communities who we hope to be re-encountering for the first time in over a year.

“We believe theatre is a place that welcomes debate. It is a space for shared stories, experiments and conversations. BE FESTIVAL is committed to excite audiences, open perspectives, and offer an opportunity to model alternative realities. We’ll be launching our February programme with an open talk online on Tuesday, February 15 to discuss the ongoing challenges of the pandemic and why it is important to still try to programme risk-taking and provocative work.”

The winter season begins with David Espinosa’s A Universal Story which uses the manipulation of miniature objects to take a fascinating look at history from a playful and mysterious perspective.

This will be presented as part of a double-bill featuring Birmingham-based artist Amerah Saleh who will be discussing her highly anticipated new work Let’s Grieve – a powerful collection of stories about the experiences of grief.

She will be in conversation with Franscesc Serra Vila who will be sharing his experiences of creating Let’s Go Out For A Walk? – a performative piece designed specifically for senior citizens where audiences are invited to connect their past memories to the present.

Also included in the programme is the quirky and captivating Stickman presented by Squarehead Productions featuring Darragh McLoughlin. The programme will close with Mining Stories focussing on the feminist voices fighting ecological disaster.

“This winter programme completes a cycle of fruitful collaborations between Birmingham Rep and BE FESTIVAL and we are grateful for all the support the Rep has provided to us over the past years,” added Isla.

People can join the conversation between Amerah Salah (Let’s Grieve) and Francesc Serra Vila (Let’s Go Out For A Walk) on February 16.

The artists will be talking about the processes used to create pieces as well as sharing some of the stories they collected along the way.