The Accidental Festival

The Accidental Festival returns for its fifth year of collaborations, discussions and performances at the BAC from 28 to 30 May 2010.

Previously the festival has been housed at The ICA, The Roundhouse and now moves to the BAC for another year of international exchange, emerging and professional artists, free events and low cost scratch work.

The Accidental Festival is produced by students from the Performance Arts Pathway of the BA (Hons) Theatre Practice at the Central School of Speech & Drama. This year the application process was opened in December with a series of special guest lectures by Liz LeCompte, Simon McBurney and Katie Mitchell.

The Accidental Festival was founded in 2006, and opened in June at The ICA, London. The festival was a huge success, and included work and mentoring from acclaimed artists such as Blind Summit, who had recently worked on Anthony Minghella’s production of Madame Butterfly for the ENO, and Punchdrunk who were currently enjoying great success with their prooduction of Faust and have since had a long run at the BAC with Masque of the Red Death.

Since then the festival has seen work from a range of disciplines including stage and play readings, theatre, dance/movement, comedy, music, film, photography, lectures, workshops and panel discussions, including collaboration across a whole range of disciplines. The fusion of all art forms delivers a programme designed to challenge and excite the audience, and this years Accidental Festival aims to continue in this way. In the festivals three year history we have welcomed and presented the work of over 100 international artists and companies, previously the festival has welcomed special guests such as Richard Foreman, and Anne Bogart.

In 2008, CETT funded the development of a promotional DVD, documenting the Accidental Festival at the ICA. The DVD has been used to promote the BA (Hons) Theatre Practice course to students, both in the UK and internationally.