Curtain up on theatre bonanza

Jul 25 2008 by Samantha Parker, Liverpool Daily Post

A WEEK-LONG theatre celebration starts today with some of the leading names in international theatre using Liverpool as its stage.

Two festivals, Get In...! and Contact The World, go back to back to put young people and theatre under the spotlight.

Get In...! an international theatre forum, to share and explore the best ideas in the world about young people’s participatory theatre, starts today at 11am with a special performance from some of the world’s best international street and carnival artists in Brouhaha International, and leads into a series of masterclasses.

It is one of the largest inter-national arts events ever held in the UK and is part of Arts Council England’s Young People’s Participatory Theatre project (YPPT), designed to raise the profile of this area of work and increase young people’s involvement and participation in theatre.

Until Sunday, the innovative Get In...! events will bring together young people from across the country and connect them with influential, interna-tional theatre companies to share their experiences, ideas and skills.

Around 800 people are expected to take part in the event led by the YPPT Youth Council; they will be presenting, performing and leading debates alongside their artistic director mentors.

Guest speakers include Bafta award-winning actress Cathy Tyson; Sir Ken Robinson, knighted for services to the arts in 2003; and Riz Ahmed, star of the BAFTA-award winning Channel 4 drama Britz.

Alan Davey, chief executive Arts Council England, said: “Get In…! is all about giving young people the opportunity to develop their involvement in theatre by learning from the skills and passions of some of the most experienced theatre professionals in the world.”

From Sunday, Contact The World festival will pick up the baton. The streets of Liverpool will be transformed by over 150 young people from 12 of the world’s freshest new theatre companies, selected by organiser Contact and twinned to form six unique pairings.

For the past year, they have been engaged in a year-long exchange overcoming their cultural and geographical distances to create brand new pieces of cutting-edge theatre.

With four workshops a day, daily matinee performances, and double-bill premieres every evening, this year’s festival will deliver an unparalleled showcase of true international talent.

On the Monday, you can attend a workshop from New York and London and an afternoon performance from Poland, before evening shows from Liverpool and Palestine. Š

Climaxing on Saturday, August 2, Contact The World 08 will join forces with Brouhaha to create the largest single carnival performance in the UK. Over 2,000 costumed participants, acrobats, musicians, circus performers and street theatre groups will collaborate with artists from all over the world in a carnival event that will parade through Liverpool.

The main venues are Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts and the Unity Theatre, but the city is expected to come to life as the performers also spill out onto the streets and perform around “the suitcases” at Hope Street.

Contact’s artistic director John McGrath said: “Liverpool’s commitment to young and emer-ging artists is an important part of the 2008 celebrations and what better way to showcase this by inviting some of the world’s most innovative young artists to the city.”

For more information and a full programme of activities tak- ing place during the week visit www.artscouncil.org.uk/getin or www.contact-theatre.org/www. contactingtheworld.org

samanthaparker