BE FESTIVAL 2019 - BE FESTIVAL

Be + Was/Were + Will Be – A workshop exploring the simultaneity of times with Francesc Serra Vila

This workshop reflects on how decisions and gestures made in the past can have consequences in the present, and how we want to relate to the past from the present. Participants will use a camera to capture movements and actions of fellow workshop attendees. These will be projected whilst building…

An Introduction to Producing and Tour Booking with Sarah Jane Watkinson

A practical and informative session for artists and producers beginning to tour their work. It will cover some of the essential tasks that go towards getting work out of the rehearsal room and in front of an audience, including: · Approaching venues and selling your show to programmers· Negotiating deals…

Archive, Memory, Performance: Working With ‘True Stories’ On Stage with La Conquesta del Pol Sud, Philip Holyman, Carmen-Francesca Banciu

In this workshop, participants will explore different methods of putting life stories on stage: stories of the self and stories of others. The workshop draws on the organisers’ experience of mixing journalistic investigation and working directly with eyewitnesses who perform their own stories (La Conquesta del Pol Sud) and of…

Between Reality and Imagination with Mokhallad Rasem

Mokhallad Rasem balances it much like a crossword puzzle, organising the tangible elements horizontally and leaps of imagination, vertically. He sees the world of the human imagination is based on the shortcomings of our reality. Hence the task is to fill out imagination and reality in such a way as…

Lizard Beats: The Dance Within with Gyula Cserepes / Atelier 21220

This workshop has been created to liberate the participants from any fear of dancing. Through observing various rhythm patterns already present in our bodies, participants will gradually embody them. Gyula will guide the practice of listening, observing and sensing the individual and collective bodies aiming to transform fear into the…

Authentic deception, methods for foregrounding deception in performance making with Tom Cassani

Investigate with Tom the specter of deception on stage, and learn how cheating can be a useful tool in stage creation. Working through different types of lies, truths and false actions through a process of creation and as experiments, participants will acquire an introduction to the different ways in which…

Large Scale Spectacles on Small Scale Budgets with Paul O’Donnell

Join Paul to explore how together we can create incredible large-scale spectacles on incredibly small-scale budgets. With what there is in the room, you will create one of musical theatre’s grandest spectacles before becoming part of Pauls’ world renowned ‘Frying Pan Orchestra’. Drawing on simple choreography, a sprinkle of imagination…

A Land Full Of Heroes by La Conquesta del Pol Sud & Carmen-Francesca Banciu (UK/France/Spain) – 80 mins

A Land full of Heroes is a play based on the experiences and the books of the German/Romanian writer Carmen-Francesca Banciu. In 1990, she arrived in Berlin, leaving Bucharest behind after the revolution. Her life’s journey is marked by rebellion: against the rigidity of the education received, against the ideological control…

Networking Lunch Meeting

Our networking event takes place over lunch offering an invaluable opportunity for artists, promoters and producers to network and mingle. Take time out to introduce yourself to other practitioners and industry professionals from across Europe and beyond.

Feedback Cafe 2019

Feedback Café is a unique and invaluable opportunity for audiences, artists and arts professionals to engage with each other, to discuss and look back at the previous evening’s performances over a coffee and a pastry. Taking place Wednesday to Saturday at 3pm in The Hub. Thu 05 - Feedback Café…

Light Years Away by Edurne Rubio (Spain) – 60 mins

In complete darkness, Edurne Rubio transforms the audience into cave explorers for the night. Inspired by her father’s and uncles’ quest to map the caves of Ojo Guareña in Northern Spain during Francisco Franco’s regime; Light Years Away is a guided tour, a documentary without faces, a show lit with…

Avalanche by Marco D’Agostin (Italy) – 45 mins

Locked together in the aftermath of Cyclops's gaze, two dancers try to fill their new blasted world with meaning. Blending languages, fragments of half-remembered stories, incomplete movement sequences and pop culture moments, Avalanche is a show desperately piecing together meaning in search of an outcome. Avalanche was nominated for the…

Previsão do Tempo (Weather Forecast) by Romain Teule & Daniel Pizamiglio (Portugal/France) – 30 mins

Our 10th anniversary is also an opportunity to welcome back previous artists and see their new works in development. 2016 Best of BE tour winner Romain Teule joins us again, this time with collaborator Daniel Pizamiglio and their new show. Previsão do Tempo is an amusing theatrical essay on the…

Soul Seekers by Mokhallad Rasem (Iraq/Belgium) – 40 mins

Soul Seekers is a performance documentary by Mokhallad Rasem devised as part of the Beyond Borders project on the subject of migration. The piece was created after a six-week stay at an asylum centre in Menen, Belgium (where he was previously a resident) and subsequently at asylum centres in Paris…

Dies Irae: 5 episodes around the end of the species by Sotterraneo (Italy) – 70 mins

Sharp, uncanny and provocative in style, Italian company Sotterraneo present their 2009 show Dies Irae: 5 episodes around the end of the species, re-staged 10 years later with a new cast. Literally translated as 'Day of Wrath' the show probes how humans archive our 'collective' memory of our past, present…

Deadtown by The Foreman Brothers (Czech Republic)

(4pm on 29 June) To mark our 10th festival, BE FESTIVAL and The REP present the UK premiere of Deadtown. Conceived and created by the sons of Oscar-winning Miloš Forman, the Forman Brothers bring a spectacular cast of 20 acrobats, dancers, singers and musicians to perform this spectacular Wild West…

Silence by Ça Marche (Spain) – 30 mins

With political and environmental turmoil threatening human existence on the planet, how can we dream the best future for our world? Some would argue we have exhausted all current modes of thought and must we return to a childlike state of dreaming - free of inhibitions, untainted by imagined reason…

Yellow Place by Kor’sia (Spain) – 12 mins

Like the briefest of encounters, two strangers are swept into a fast and passionate relationship. It builds and climaxes so quickly, that we are left in a warm yellow place of nostalgia, wondering what might have been. Yellow Place is a beautifully choreographed exploration of personality and changing passions. Kor'sia…

One Shot by Cie. One Shot (Belgium) – 30 mins

Sometimes, particularly if you are wielding an axe, you only get one shot to get it right. Luckily Belgian duo Maxime Dautremont & Foucauld Falguerolles have got it down to a fine art (thank goodness). In their show One Shot, they present amazing feats of acrobatics amongst axe throwing and…

BE Next by BE Next Youth Company (UK) – 15 mins

Inclusivity is at the heart of BE FESTIVAL's manifesto and BE Next is testament to our ongoing commitment to provide opportunities for young people to learn life skills through performing arts. Alongside two other workshops in the spring and autumn, the annual festival performance is the culmination of a week's…

Interval Dinner

Every night, ticket holders can enjoy a dinner that is served on the REP’s main stage after the first half of the evening performances at approximately 8.15pm, lasting an hour. We welcome back Marmalade catering team and you can expect plenty of European dishes and diverse, fresh and locally sourced…

Promises of Uncertainty by Cie. Moost (Switzerland/France) – 40 mins

Another returning face to the festival is Swiss dare devil Marc Oosterhoff. In a monochrome universe, accompanied live by the cosmic sounds of Raphael Raccuia, Marc transforms into a naive explorer. In a world of strange rules, a mix of innocent games and trials by fire, is he a victim…

Someone Loves You Drive With Care by Tom Cassani (UK) – 60 mins

A welcome return for last year's first prize-winner at BE, with an extended version of Someone Loves You Drive With Care. Tom Cassani is a performance artist and a liar. A crafty specialist of deception, he questions our collective construction of truth and lies, often challenging the borders of his…

Precedents To A Potential Future by Anna Biczók (Hungary) – 25 mins

We've all heard about 'living in the present' or 'living for the moment'. In her solo lecture-performance, Anna Biczók mixes memories, imagination and changes in perspective to explore how these sensations create a phenomena that we understand as an 'experience'. Anna Biczók is a dance artist, performer, choreographer based in…

I Promise You That Tonight by Tom Cassani (UK) – 50 mins

At BE FESTIVAL, our first prize offers the winner support to create a new show and perform it at the following festival. Last year's winner, Tom Cassani, returns to perform his latest work I Promise You That Tonight. Blending the rhetoric of a showman, a miracle-monger and a sceptic, Cassani…

PUNK‽ by Paula Rosolen/Haptic Hide (Germany) – 60 mins

Forty years ago, singer of the Sex Pistols Johnny Rotten said "I wanna be anarchy" and thus punk rock was born. Punk was not just music, but a way of life. A rebellion against the status quo. Today, choreographer Paula Rosolen questions what now remains of 'punk'; the visual language…

THE END by Bertrand Lesca & Nasi Voutsas (France/UK) – 30 mins

BE FESTIVAL alumni, Bertrand and Nasi dance the end of their relationship, imagining what a future without each other might look like. Above the stage, and projected onto a screen, two parallel narratives run alongside each other: the end of the Earth and the end of their collaboration. Their dance…

Awards Ceremony

BE FESTIVAL is committed to the development of artists at all stages of their careers. Companies who perform in the main festival programme are eligible for a series of performance and development related prizes. At the end of each set of evening performances, the audience will be asked for feedback…

Lycio LIVE

Lycio combine distinctive vocals and pulsating electro-pop courtesy; this hybrid 3 piece from Birmingham share a charm and vibe with bands like London Grammar. Recent shows saw them supporting UK acts Rae Morris and Yonaka.

Gathering Tides LIVE

Gathering Tides have a completely fresh approach to traditional and contemporary folk music from around the world. Embedding together elements of funk, jazz, rock and more, this young and innovative band transcend genre labels. Their unique line-up of fiddle, electric guitar, saxophone, bass, cajón and percussion allows them to slip…

Sam Redmore DJ SET

Sam Redmore has built a name for himself over the last few years for crafting soul-drenched remixes and reworks of both solidified classics and lesser-known material. Bringing his 'Tropical SoundClash' of cumbia, afrobeat, samba, funk and reggae through to house, broken beat, disco and everything in between - his reworkings…

Kiriki Club LIVE

Kiriki Club are a band without borders. Rooted in speak-easy swing, they effortlessly gather grooves from across the globe and wring them into an eclectic exotic brew. This foot-stomping performance will be doubling both as our opening night party and a special teaser for Kiriki's debut album, dropping this Autumn…

Glyn Phillips (GlobalSoundClash) DJ SET

DJ and radio jock Glyn Phillips is back for his usual spot at BE, only this time he'll be the soundtrack to our Closing Party shenanigans. BE FESTIVAL just wouldn’t be the same without his floor-filling ‘Global Sound Clash’ DJ and live percussion workouts. Expect exuberant Afro-Latin grooves, Salsa-Soul, Balkan-Beats,…

Archive 2019

Be + Was/Were + Will Be – A workshop exploring the simultaneity of times with Francesc Serra Vila

An Introduction to Producing and Tour Booking with Sarah Jane Watkinson

Archive, Memory, Performance: Working With ‘True Stories’ On Stage with La Conquesta del Pol Sud, Philip Holyman, Carmen-Francesca Banciu

Between Reality and Imagination with Mokhallad Rasem

Lizard Beats: The Dance Within with Gyula Cserepes / Atelier 21220

Authentic deception, methods for foregrounding deception in performance making with Tom Cassani

Large Scale Spectacles on Small Scale Budgets with Paul O’Donnell

A Land Full Of Heroes by La Conquesta del Pol Sud & Carmen-Francesca Banciu (UK/France/Spain) – 80 mins

Networking Lunch Meeting

Feedback Cafe 2019

Light Years Away by Edurne Rubio (Spain) – 60 mins

Avalanche by Marco D’Agostin (Italy) – 45 mins

Previsão do Tempo (Weather Forecast) by Romain Teule & Daniel Pizamiglio (Portugal/France) – 30 mins

Soul Seekers by Mokhallad Rasem (Iraq/Belgium) – 40 mins

Dies Irae: 5 episodes around the end of the species by Sotterraneo (Italy) – 70 mins

Deadtown by The Foreman Brothers (Czech Republic)

Silence by Ça Marche (Spain) – 30 mins

Yellow Place by Kor’sia (Spain) – 12 mins

One Shot by Cie. One Shot (Belgium) – 30 mins

BE Next by BE Next Youth Company (UK) – 15 mins

Interval Dinner

Promises of Uncertainty by Cie. Moost (Switzerland/France) – 40 mins

Someone Loves You Drive With Care by Tom Cassani (UK) – 60 mins

Precedents To A Potential Future by Anna Biczók (Hungary) – 25 mins

I Promise You That Tonight by Tom Cassani (UK) – 50 mins

PUNK‽ by Paula Rosolen/Haptic Hide (Germany) – 60 mins

THE END by Bertrand Lesca & Nasi Voutsas (France/UK) – 30 mins

Awards Ceremony

Lycio LIVE

Gathering Tides LIVE

Sam Redmore DJ SET

Kiriki Club LIVE

Glyn Phillips (GlobalSoundClash) DJ SET