BE FESTIVAL 2016 - BE FESTIVAL

An Wei Lu Li | Democracy | 21-25 June

An Wei Lu Li’s practice is based on the study of authority and its impact on the lives of individual citizens in ‘civilised’ societies. Based in Madrid with Chinese heritage, he works in urban environments, creating large scale site-specific installations and highly detailed, almost sculptural street art works that are…

You & Me (& William) with Carlota Gaviño

Madrid based Grumelot present and teach some of the techniques that help them to develop shows giving insight into how they produced the award-winning #sobrejulieta (BE 2015). As a starting point, the participant will be encouraged to analyse the performer’s relationship with a piece of text, an idea, a stage…

Tools with Tomeo Vergès

Join Tomeo Vergès in a physical workshop that lies in between dance and theater where the point of departure is the body. A main focus will be on a series of sensory and proprioceptive exercises questioning what it means to be “present” for an actor/ dancer. Vergés teaches and delivers…

Hey You Look Familiar, Did We Do It? with TiDA

Led by Marco Chenevier, Elena Pisu and Alessia Pinto of TiDA who will help explore the images that we project to those around us and how these are received. Through dance and theatre, participants will get to know each other better, in the process finding out more about their own…

Preaching beyond the Converted | An audience focussed tutorial with Paul Reece

As artists, your vision is often pure and in your perception, unambiguous. Yet the first ‘outside contact’ with your work is usually through marketing, a moment when the connection to a producer, journalist, audience or influencer is critical. How do you ensure that you interpret its artistic core into accessible…

Effortlessly Funny with Jamie Wood

Within an atmosphere of play, support and provocation, Jamie Wood leads an exploration of his definition of the word ‘clown’. Participants will be guided through a series of exercises connecting the body, voice and imagination with the presence of an audience and exploring what that relationship can create when listened…

What is Performing? with Abi Clancey and Fuensanta Zambrana Ruiz

Are we performing everyday? Do you consider your audience as performers too? Explore the nature of performing in ways that are not necessarily `framed´ theatrically, but are part of daily living. Playing with habits, reactions and stimulus invites us to have a conversation with the unknown. Abi Clancey and Fuensanta…

Early Ideas (90 mins)

As a festival first, we present four examples of works in progress and in early stages of development. Taking place at midday on Saturday on the Door Stage in The REP, we thought that these Early Ideas deserved to be represented and they’d be much appreciated by our enthusiastic BE…

Networking Lunch

This year’s go-to networking event at the festival takes place over lunch and gives a great opportunity to meet a mix of artists, promoters and producers. Take time out to introduce yourself to practitioners and industry from across Europe and beyond.

Feedback Café

Feedback Café is a unique and invaluable opportunity for audiences, artists and arts professionals to discuss and evaluate the previous evening’s performance in a group context over a coffee and a pastry. Taking place on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 3pm and Sunday at 12pm in the Hub On…

Discussing Art with An Wei

Following Feedback Cafe, An Wei will lead a discussion about street art interventions and his work with BE FESTIVAL as artist in residence working in context with the festival theme of democracy and society. BE FESTIVAL Visual Arts Events in June: Sat 18: An Wei street painting on Bromley St., Digbeth…

Things Easily Forgotten by Xavier Bobés (Spain) – 30 min

Picture the setting. A round table in an intimate and dusty Spanish lounge littered with objects. Xavier Bobés is your guide and medium for an intimate and sensory journey of sights and sounds delving into histories of Spain from the 1940s to the 1970s, invoking old memories and conjuring up…

Massive Battleships by Mufti Games (UK) – 30 min

A super-sized team version of the classic naval guessing game. The Captain has abandoned his post, leaving just the cabin-boy in charge of the fleet! Can you save the day? Using binoculars, with flags and flashcards to signal spectacular hits and unlucky misses hundreds of yards apart, it's all hands…

Stuff by Sean Kempton (UK) – 30 min

What’s all this ‘stuff’ then? A brand new solo show by performer Sean Kempton who uses his engrossing and playful comedic presence to tell a story about love, a story that touches on human fragility, awkwardness and hilarity. Sean is an expert in movement integrating mime, clown, physical comedy and…

Things We’d Love To See On Stage by Los Bárbaros (Spain) – 30 min

The clue is in the title. An eloquent and witty theatre piece where the stage becomes a playground for the ‘barbarians’, fighting to live in the border, madly in love with theatre and life. The show runs through a list of desires - a five minute hug, a camping tent…

Power to the People by BE Mix – 30 min

Each year BE FESTIVAL invites performers to stay in Birmingham and take part in a residency to create a show for next festival. This year’s project, Power to the People, puts the idea of Democracy not only in the centre of the piece but in the making of it. The…

The Vortex Agitator by Cris Blanco (Spain) – 30 min

A mix gender B movie depiction about a director wanting to make her once-in-a-lifetime movie from the confines of her home. Using cameras, screens, gadgets and everything but the kitchen sink, the show uses the cliche of classic American films, the majesty of soundtracks and the intimacy of theatre to…

Piccole Donne by TiDA (Italy) – 60 min

Three future brides take to the stage dressed in white waiting for a wedding that will never take place. An empty ritualistic dance symbolises the start of a life journey for a woman, one where females exist with a pre-established identity. The show follows the evolution of a ‘woman’, a…

Situation with Outstretched Arm by Oliver Zahn (Germany) – 30 min

The saluto romano, the olympic salute, the Bellamy Salute or in its most common form, the Hitler Salute. One of the most powerful and violent symbols of the twentieth century is re-contextualised on stage through physical performance and essay. The German production takes a unique cross-disciplined approach to a controversial…

Theseus Beefcake by PanicLab (UK) – 30 min

A bastardised and humorous homage of the Athenian tale of Theseus and the Minotaur played out by a changing series of characters, each pair delving into the labyrinth of masculinity. From American frat students to wrestlers in lycra, questions arise about excess, fantasy and friendship oft-with a homo-erotic bond leading…

We Are Brontë by Publick Transport (UK) – 30 min

The real and imaginary worlds of Yorkshire’s literary siblings are portrayed in a madcap mixture of physical theatre, farcical humour and comedy impro. The duo deconstruct gothic themes of love, madness, repression and revenge and the play reconfigures into an enquiry about what makes a good play, with hilarious effect.…

In Girum imus nocte (et consumimur igni) by Aldes (Italy) – 30 min

A rugged, black and white and apocalyptic setting sets the tone for a tense and disconcerting journey through light and darkness. Hypnotic sounds engulf the room inducing the dancers into tribalistic and trance like movements. Hyper-emotional performers convey disorganized and spasmodic gestures beyond exhaustion. The piece twitches into its climactic…

Pass The Salt by BE NEXT (UK) – 15 min

BE NEXT is a youth theatre initiative giving young people from Birmingham the invaluable opportunity to learn and perform theatre and dance with guidance from professional arts practitioners who have performed at BE FESTIVAL in previous years. This year’s mentors are Michael Bell (UK) and Julia Schwarzbach (Austria), who have…

Interval Dinner on the Main Stage

This year we welcome the chefs and cooks of Marmalade to the festival. Expect plenty of diverse, fresh and locally sourced products with many vegetarian options. Each night of the festival, after the first two shows, audiences, performers and the festival team will dine together on the REP's main stage.…

Quintetto by TiDA (Italy) – 60 min

Marco Chenevier returns after winning last year’s 1st Prize Award with an extended performance of a hilarious and poignant show highlighting the perils actors face in a country blighted by financial austerity. Tonight is the night, it’s show time. But the tech and lighting crew have gone missing. The answer lies…

Transnational Artist Heidi Blumenfeld by Andrej Tomse (Slovenia) – 20 min

“An artist that doesn't make mistakes is an artist that doesn't take risk”, Heidi tells the audience before stylishly impressing with her juggling clubs as part of her holier-than-thou mission to redefine high art through kitsch performance and circus. Switching between male and female characters sometimes funny and awkwardly serious…

Vacuum by Cie Philippe Saire (Switzerland) – 23 min

A transcendental performance created by Philippe Saire, one of Europe’s leading exponents of experimental choreography where movement and visual arts converge and bodies weave through black holes and shards of dazzling light. The slo-mo optical canvas mesmerises as two male forms float through a vacuum created in space. The show…

Merci, Pardon by Cie HappyFace (France) – 20 min

One man delirious in music and another head over heels in love, both fearful of being alone, weak, powerless and cowardly. The strength of human need and the joy of bonding allows a release of their inhibitions and desires. Using movement and circus, the French couple break down feelings of…

Collective Loss of Memory by DOT504 Dance Company (Czech Republic) – 60 min

Place five men in a confined space, where masculinity is championed and a virulent type of group phenomena can take hold, in this case with a brutal outcome. The influence on each other when in a group can have a profound and irrational effect on a human’s thinking. A powerful,…

Reload by Teatro Sotterraneo (Italy) – 30 min

Central to Samuel Beckett’s well known philosophy of the benefits of failure - fail and then fail better - is the idea of interruption where human processes and experiences are broken. The show evolves through a series of stage interruptions using physical theatre, analysing the feeling triggered by something ending…

Hamlet by CollettivO CineticO (Italy) – 30 min

Professional actors, nerds, shy intellectuals, hairdressers, exhibitionists, bored businessmen and last second replacements compete to be the main character of the show - Hamlet. Full of uncertainty yet inevitability, the stage is set for a rollercoaster of drama in true Shakespearean form as irony and tragedy go hand in hand…

You Had to Be There by Uncanny Theatre (UK) – 30 min

Don't you hate it when you try to retell a brilliant moment but just don't have the words to do it justice? Then again, aren't those the best memories? This trio have embraced the impossible and spent years researching how we can all create one glorious "you had to be…

BE Late Stage | Duo Folclore LIVE

Folky-classical violin duo Alice Barron and Fuensanta Zambrana Ruiz explore a concoction of traditional music, improvisations and folk-inspired duets by Béla Bartók, Luciano Berio and Astor Piazzolla. With a love of Indian classical and cross-cultural forms, the arrangements are their own, representing their Spanish and British roots. The band will…

BE Late Stage | Project Jam Sandwich Live

Hailing from Manchester, the award winning 5-piece who met at The Royal Northern College of Music,create a virtuoso hybrid global sound. From Afrobeat and reggae to folk and gypsy jazz passing through South Africa, Scotland and beyond the group are one of the hottest emerging acts of 2016. The band…

BE Late Stage | Count me IN (referendum party) ft. Manos Pa’Arriba Live

Let your hair down, It’s our referendum night fiesta! Prepare yourself for a night of uplifting, joyous music from South America via Birmingham. Manos Pa’Arriba are Latin tropicalistas who play cumbia and Afro-Latino dance music from Colombia. Fronted by charismatic lead singer Elli Noire, the members are drawn from The…

BE Late Stage | DJ Mazzy Snape (The Soul Hole/The Night Owl)

Resident DJ at The Night Owl Northern Soul and Motown Club and regular at Lunar Festival as well having her own radio show, The Soul Hole on Brum Radio. Mazzy plays a stomping mix of Motown, northern Soul, 60s R’n’B, funk, disco and ska. Certain to make even the shyest…

BE Late Stage | DJ Glyn Philips Global Soundclash

BE FESTIVAL 2016 Jury Awards Ceremony and Closing Party

Open to the public, the awards ceremony will begin at 11pm and feature a short presentation followed by the festival closing party. Birmingham DJ Mazzy Snape will be guiding the party vibes with a mix of soul, funk and classics. Interactive video games courtesy of Unstable King and a host…

Archive 2016

An Wei Lu Li | Democracy | 21-25 June

You & Me (& William) with Carlota Gaviño

Tools with Tomeo Vergès

Hey You Look Familiar, Did We Do It? with TiDA

Preaching beyond the Converted | An audience focussed tutorial with Paul Reece

Effortlessly Funny with Jamie Wood

What is Performing? with Abi Clancey and Fuensanta Zambrana Ruiz

Early Ideas (90 mins)

Networking Lunch

Feedback Café

Discussing Art with An Wei

Things Easily Forgotten by Xavier Bobés (Spain) – 30 min

Massive Battleships by Mufti Games (UK) – 30 min

Stuff by Sean Kempton (UK) – 30 min

Things We’d Love To See On Stage by Los Bárbaros (Spain) – 30 min

Power to the People by BE Mix – 30 min

The Vortex Agitator by Cris Blanco (Spain) – 30 min

Piccole Donne by TiDA (Italy) – 60 min

Situation with Outstretched Arm by Oliver Zahn (Germany) – 30 min

Theseus Beefcake by PanicLab (UK) – 30 min

We Are Brontë by Publick Transport (UK) – 30 min

In Girum imus nocte (et consumimur igni) by Aldes (Italy) – 30 min

Pass The Salt by BE NEXT (UK) – 15 min

Interval Dinner on the Main Stage

Quintetto by TiDA (Italy) – 60 min

Transnational Artist Heidi Blumenfeld by Andrej Tomse (Slovenia) – 20 min

Vacuum by Cie Philippe Saire (Switzerland) – 23 min

Merci, Pardon by Cie HappyFace (France) – 20 min

Collective Loss of Memory by DOT504 Dance Company (Czech Republic) – 60 min

Reload by Teatro Sotterraneo (Italy) – 30 min

Hamlet by CollettivO CineticO (Italy) – 30 min

You Had to Be There by Uncanny Theatre (UK) – 30 min

BE Late Stage | Duo Folclore LIVE

BE Late Stage | Project Jam Sandwich Live

BE Late Stage | Count me IN (referendum party) ft. Manos Pa’Arriba Live

BE Late Stage | DJ Mazzy Snape (The Soul Hole/The Night Owl)

BE Late Stage | DJ Glyn Philips Global Soundclash

BE FESTIVAL 2016 Jury Awards Ceremony and Closing Party