Vault Festival, one of London’s biggest, boldest and wildest arts festivals, returns from 28 Jan - 22 Mar. We’re delighted to share details below of the many shows there that include involvement from our alumni, students and staff!
SANTI & NAZ
Theatre. The Thelmas, led by Artistic Director Madelaine Moore (MA Applied Theatre 11)
Cage - The Vaults, Leake Street, Jan 28 to Feb 2 @18:10
Santi & Naz are best friends living in a small village in pre-partition India. Their story spans between 1945 & 1949. When Naz is betrothed to an older man, the threat of separation for the young women looms large on the horizon. As the political situation around partition worsens and violence erupts, they take drastic action. Santi & Naz explores childhood friendship, identity and loyalty set against the backdrop of a country soon to be changed forever. New play by Guleraana Mir and Afshan D’souza-Lodhi, from award-winning company The Thelmas, makers of LADYKILLER & COCONUT.
Winner of VAULT Festival Origins Award for Outstanding New Work (Week 1)
TAMAR BROADBENT: ROLE PLAY (WORK IN PROGRESS)
Comedy. Tamar Broadbent (MA Music Theatre 2012)
Vaulty Towers - Lower Marsh, 28-30 Jan @18:45
A brand new stand-up comedy show from Tamar Broadbent (BBC Radio 4, Comedy Central, Boom Chicago).
Tamar’s had a truly international year. She’s been working at improv theatre Boom Chicago in Amsterdam, where she has an American housemate, a Canadian boyfriend, and has been attempting to decipher Dutch people.
Living in Europe in the wake of Brexit, running from the past and navigating nearly turning 30, Tamar has been on many new adventures, including revelatory non-drinking marathons and accidentally signing up with a very kind and ineffective personal trainer. Join her for this heartfelt and joyful comedy show that tackles some of life’s biggest dilemmas: the Pomeranian versus the Great Dane? are we doomed to follow the patterns of our parents? and whose job is it to deal with the house ghost?
DROP DEAD GORGEOUS
Theatre. Same Same Collective, produced by Nur Khairiyah Ramli (MA Creative Producing 2019)
Cavern - The Vaults, Leake Street, 1 & 15 Feb @15:20
The cracks on the surface.
The low rumble.
The sparkling eyes.
The twitch.
The wanting.
The drip drip dripping.
The intake of breath.
Four breaths.
And then?
What happens when we let go?
drop dead gorgeous is a darkly comic exploration of femininity and appetite. Drawing on their experiences as women from three different cultural backgrounds, Same Same delve into issues of respectability, containment and refinement. One thing is certain. They won’t be amenable for long.
Nominated for VAULT Festival Innovation Award
BE LONGING
Theatre. G&T Productions, produced by Caroline Tyka (MFA Creative Producing 2018) and featuring Keagan Carr Fransch (MA Acting 2018)
Forge - The Vaults, Leake Street, 4-8 Feb @18:00
What if making a baby were as simple as ticking a box.
In the not-too-distant present, gene splicing has taken the queer family to a whole new level. Sigrid and Jim are a normal couple - they laugh, they fight, they make up. But when it comes to starting a family, will their relationship stand the test-tube of time?
Follow these two queer womxn as they navigate the edges of morality in a dystopian tale of genetic engineering, baby showers and losing love.
LGBTQFA
Comedy. The Free Association, including Liz Guterbock (MA Acting for Screen 2011)
Cage - The Vaults, Leake Street, 4 Feb @19:30
Proudly presenting LGBTQFA!
That’s right, some of the best queer performers from leading London Improv Theatre The Free Association are putting on a show! Featuring a queer guest performer and a whole host of hilarious improv (naturally), this is one improv show that’s worth coming out to see…
LGBTQFA are Luke Healy, Chloe Godman, James Barr, Doug Crossley, Ruairi McInerney, Liz Guterbock and Rob Sladden.
PATRICIA GETS READY (FOR A DATE WITH A MAN THAT USED TO HIT HER)
Theatre. Written by Martha Watson AllPress (BA (Hons) Acting student), directed by Kaleya Baxe (BA (Hons) Drama, Applied Theatre and Education 2019), and produced by Nur Khairiyah Ramli (MA Creative Producing 2019). Also starring Angelina Chudi (BA (Hons) Acting CDT 2018), including sound design from Beth Duke (BA (Hons) Theatre Practice 2019) and lighting design from Steven Caleb Frost (current BA (Hons) Theatre Practice student)
Crypt - The Vaults, Leake Street, 5-9 Feb @20:40
Patricia has spent a year crafting a kick ass speech while recovering from an abusive relationship. But when she bumps into her ex on the street, and accidentally agrees to dinner with him that night, she’s got some big decisions to make; what to wear? What to say? And whether or not to go? Join Patricia as she gets ready for the date; tells stories of her past, how it has affected her present, and looks honestly at her future.
Patricia Gets Ready (for a date with the man that used to hit her) is an honest, funny and heartbreaking look at what it is to recover from trauma. Aiming to shatter the weathered stereotype of the ‘broken woman,’ this show presents a survivor, in all her colours.
TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions and discussions of domestic violence. Every audience member will leave with a helpline card and a free self care goodie sponsored by one of the partners on our poster.
Winner of VAULT Festival Show of the Week Award (Week 2)
RAWTRANSPORT ™
Site Specific / Immersive / Pop-Ups & Vehicle Venues. Electrick Village, produced by Carly McCann and Ben Grant (both MFA Advanced Theatre Practice 2018)
Vehicle Venues, 11-23 Feb @18:30
RawTransport™ explores the possibilities of virtual transportation and asks: why do we feel the need to escape our lives? At what lengths will we go to feel the thrill of the unknown? What are the politics of transportation?
Met by sprightly transportation staff, the audience are promised the chance to be transported to breathtaking places around the world… at a price. RawTransport™ questions our desire to ‘get away from it all’ and challenges the possibilities of technology in live performance.
Through the use of 360 degree video, the audience is submerged into multiple locations around the world. These locations unlock interactive, live sensory-stimulating moments that include real-time smell, touch and taste, enhancing the experience and inspiring a feeling of dual-presence.
Strap in and hang on. It’s going to be a wild ride.
TALK PROPA
Theatre. SHYBAIRN, founded and directed by Caitlin Evans (MFA Advanced Theatre Practice 2019). With design from Nic Farr (MA Advanced Theatre Practice 2018), Movement Director Marilena Sitaropoulou (MFA Advanced Theatre Practice 2019) and Producer & Sound Designer Becky Jones (MA Advanced Theatre Practice). Performed by Rebecca Charlton (current BA DATE student)
Studio - The Vaults, Leake Street, 11-13 Feb @18:00
TALK PROPA is a celebration of all things northern. Sick of the endless presentations of northern women as the clown, ‘chav’ or someone that lives such a dire life in the grim darkness that is The North™, that they must escape and move to the wonderful South… TALK PROPA is a truly northern f*ck you to the southern elite.
Two women from across the north of England explore their relationship with their accents and the prejudice they’ve faced as a result. Featuring music from the one and only Cheryl, queen of the North, these lasses take on the stereotypes they are constantly reduced to (with a cuppa tea in hand of course).
Southerners, buckle up.
TINTED
Theatre. Scripped Up, directed by Elske Waite (MA Actor Training and Coaching 2018)
Studio - The Vaults, Leake Street, 11-16 Feb @19:20
Tinted is a revolutionary disabled response to the #metoo hashtag. Staged as accessibly as possible and written by disabled playwright Amy Bethan Evans (Libby’s Eyes, BBC Access Room, Kudos Fellowship shortlist and producer of Access Platform) Tinted is the debut full-length monologue from Scripped Up, championing D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent writers.
Tinted started as short play called To Be My Eyes, commissioned by Theatre 503 as part of The Words are Coming Now. The full length version was commissioned by Extant for their slot at the 2018 Bloomsbury festival. In these versions, it was directed by Ailin Conant.
JUST THESE PLEASE: SUITABLE
Comedy. Just These Please, including Philippa Carson (MA Acting for Screen 2014), Jack Mosedale (MA Acting 2016) and William Sebag-Montefiore (MA Acting 2014)
Crescent - The Vaults, Leake Street, 13, 20, 27 Feb @21:15
Following their 2019 five-star sell-out run at the Edinburgh fringe and appearances on the BBC, Just These Please return to London with their apolitical, often musical and always hilarious sketches that will knock your socks off. Then neatly fold them.
With 25 fresh new sketches and songs in 55 fast minutes, expect quick-wit and hilarity from the gender-balanced quartet whose 2018 five-star debut was widely praised for its clever jokes and tightly written sketches and songs. Each sketch or song is punctuated by pumping tunes and slick transitions. Your socks will never be the same again!
LOVE (WATCHING MADNESS)
Theatre. SpeakUp Theatre, including Ruth Phillips (MA Movement Directing and Teaching 2018)
Studio - The Vaults, Leake Street, 14-16 Feb @18:00
‘My mum threw a trifle at my best friend and that’s when I first thought something was probably wrong.’ Izzy’s mum isn’t very happy which means, a lot of the time, Izzy isn’t very happy. Her best friend says she should probably talk to someone about it. So she does.
LOVE (Watching Madness) is a fast paced, poignant and painful celebration of mums, daughters and the strength of a child’s love in the face of tough odds. A heart wrenching and hilarious autobiographical one-woman show about the relentless journey of caring for someone who can’t always show that they care for you.
The show was developed with the John Thaw Mental Health Initiative at The Actors Centre and has since been performed to sell out audiences across London and Norwich. SpeakUp Theatre return from their award nominated, critically acclaimed 5 star run at the Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
DUAL دوگانه
Theatre. Peyvand Sadenghain, directed by Nastajza Somers (MA Applied Theatre 2019)
Pit - The Vaults, Leake Street, 19-23 Feb @21:00
“What if I had grown up there instead of here? No, not Iraq – the other one.”
Two passports, two names, one woman. Peyvand is British. Parisa is Iranian.
When she was ten years old, Peyvand travelled from East London to Iran with her father to meet her family for the first time. Her British citizenship wasn’t recognised, and so she had to acquire an Iranian passport (and a new name) on arrival. Only now, Parisa is forbidden from leaving the country… at least for a little while.
The story may sound familiar so far, but what happens to Parisa when Peyvand is finally allowed to come back “home”?
Drag, poetry, puppetry and personal/archival interviews – all set to stripped back renditions of Persian pop classics – come together in this darkly funny, formally inventive theatrical mosaic about dual citizenship, home, the arbitrary boundaries of nation states, and what it will take to start the next revolution.
Winner of VAULT Festival Show of the Week Award (Week 4)
NOTCH
Theatre. The Thelmas, led by Artistic Director Madelaine Moore (MA Applied Theatre 2011)
Crypt - The Vaults, Leake Street, 19-23 Feb @20:40
A girl. An empty street. A half-eaten Subway. And you. And you passing in the rain. Turning the corner when I saw you.
A.A. is moving from Eastern Europe to the promised land of Guinness and gift shops: Dublin. Everyone says she’ll do well ‘cause she owns slacks and knows how to spell. But it turns out that you don’t just grow out of working in retail. Or get on the property ladder. Or ascend the corporate ladder. Or own a ladder… without money.
NOTCH is new solo show about sleeping rough on the streets of Dublin, exploring the links between xenophobia, mental health and homelessness. Croatian writer/actor Danaja Wass draws on her own experiences of a capital that has become increasingly polarized and daunting for people who are seen as foreign, inadequate, alien or simply ‘other’. Directed by Madelaine Moore LADYKILLER (VAULT Pleasance Award Winner 2019), ALGORITHMS, FATTY FAT FAT (VAULT Origins Award Winner 2019)
ESSENCE
Theatre. With Ally Poole (MFA Advanced Theatre Practice 2019) and Timothy O’Hara (BA (Hons) Acting 2007)
Crescent - The Vaults, Leake Street, 21-23 Feb @18:15
Peckham 2020. Laquaya (15 - loves hip-hop, feminism, Peperami) has broken into Elyot’s house. Elyot (32) is reclusive, eccentric and probably quite lonely. He’s making a model boat and listening to Beethoven whilst checking off his life week by week on a chart on the wall.
Watch this slightly odd couple go on a humorous and heart-warming journey from denial to acceptance, overcoming extreme difference and fear of vulnerability to realise that deep down, the essence of each of them make for a perfect match.
Essence explores what it’s like to be lonely, how much it takes to let people in, and how the messy bits of life are ultimately where the gold lies.
Essence is supported by The CULTIVATE Bursary, in Association with COMMON and the Newbury Corn Exchange.
GODFREY
Theatre. Aisling Towl, produced by Sarah Stallwood-Hall (BA (Hons) Drama, Applied Theatre and Education 2018)
Forge - The Vaults, Leake Street, 21-22 Feb @18:00
After her life falls apart, Carys turns up for her first shift at a restaurant to find Simone preparing for the blood moon. Jason folding napkins. And Godfrey getting ready to leave the artisan-brunch-filled world he has made for himself behind. Their lives begin to weave into each other in small, strange ways, colliding, connecting, tangling. When Simone makes it her mission to get Carys to believe in something, anything, forgetting her old life is suddenly more difficult than Carys had planned. When you’re too sad, too ambitious, too Scorpio for waiting tables, how do you make it through the day? Which parts of yourself do you let other people see, and which parts do you hide? A new play about hope, rage and gentrification.
Godfrey was developed as part of The Monobox’s Playstart initiative in 2018, and was long listed for the Royal Court’s Lynne Gagliano Prize 2019.
MOONLIGHT HUSTLE
Site Specific / Immersive / Pop-Ups & Vehicle Venues. Rogue Productions, created by Megan Taylor (MA Applied Theatre 2017) and Dean Rodgers (MA Advanced Theatre Practice 2013)
Cavern - The Vaults, Leake Street, 21 Feb - 20 March @22:50
An immersive game of competitive crime.
Criminals gather from around the world to compete in the Moonlight Hustle - The Gala event of thieves, cat burglars and con artists. The winner will join The Commission, the elite of the international criminal underworld. Somehow, you’ve nabbed yourself an invite.
Treasures are on display and the competition is simple: Steal them before midnight.
Nominated for VAULT Festival After Dark Award
PAPER STRAWS (WORK IN PROGRESS)
PearShaped. Produced by Rachael Smith (MA Advanced Theatre Practice 2014)
Cavern - The Vaults, Leake Street, 21-23 Feb @18:20 (+ 15:20 Sunday Matinee)
Sea levels are rising. Wildlife is becoming extinct. We’re drowning in plastic.
But everyone is using Paper Straws, isn’t that something?
Taking place in changing time frames, we follow the lives of three people brought up through the ‘liferaft’ system - a scheme that re-homes children from places deemed unlivable because of the changing climate. Now in their adult lives, and each having very different relationships to how climate change has shaped their identities, they get a calling: it’s time to step up and do something.
Part surreal comedy, part family drama set against the backdrop of our looming climate catastrophe, the characters are forced to decide ‘how far would you go to save the world’?
Please note: Paper Straws is an experiment in sustainable theatre-making, from the rehearsal room to the stage. This performance is a Work In Progress, feedback will be invited and gratefully received.
Winner of VAULT Festival Origins Award for Outstanding New Work (Week 4)
BUTTERFLY
Theatre. Bedlam Chorus, with narrative director and co-writer Clodagh Chapman (MA Advanced Theatre Practice student)
Cage - The Vaults, Leake Street, 26-28 Feb @22:10
An Elizabethan woman stitches a beard from her pubic hair to marry the woman she loves. A Punjabi-speaking Muslim girl tries to make her parents understand who she is by translating the untranslatable. A drag queen fighting in World War II must literally lip sync for her life.
In a subterranean network of tunnels deep beneath London, a band of real-life queer misfits from across time have gathered. These are people you’ve never heard of, with extraordinary stories they’ve never shared. But now - through monologue, dance, music, glitter and lots and lots of noise - they’re raising the roof. They’re creating vibrations which they hope will reverberate up through the thick, muddy layers of time, into the right-here-right-now. “Deeply moving yet extremely funny” (Inter:Mission), butterfly is a show full of laughs, goosebumps and wonder in equal measure.
DON’T TALK TO STRANGERS
Theatre. Hot Cousin, with company members Elana Binysh, Stephanie Fuller, Madeleine Lewis (all MA Advance Theatre Practice 2018) and Ally Poole (MFA Advance Theatre Practice 2019).
Forge - The Vaults, Leake Street, 27 Feb - 1 March @18:00
What could be more romantic than giving your lover a mix tape? That’s what scientist Carl Sagan thought in 1977 when he compiled his Golden Record on behalf of all humanity and sent it shooting off into space in search of friendship, love and maybe more. Forty-two years later, why haven’t the aliens messaged us back? Is it because our message came across as arrogant, colonial and sexist?
‘Don’t Talk to Strangers’ is a disruptive parody of revisionist history - a story made by men but retold by women; four women on a collision course with our own problematic history. ‘Don’t Talk to Strangers’ is both an intersectional re-evaluation of this ground-breaking musical love letter and a trashy rom-com about us and the aliens.
THIS QUEER HOUSE
Theatre. Opia Collective, including performance from Humaira Iqbal (BA (Hons) Acting CDT 2017)
Network Theatre - Lower Road, 27 Feb - 1 March @19:45
‘The house is just a house; it bears no consequence.’
A young queer couple inherit a home. A joint renovation project begins. A restless house gathers strength.
Time passes.
A missing dog – A magic mirror – A dream acquired.
As the wedge between them widens, Leah and Oli are forced to take direct action against their legacy.
An exploration of home-making, the seduction of normalcy and the cost our dreams can come at. Award-winning poet’s Oakley Flanagan’s debut play is told in collaboration with OPIA Collective’s multi-disciplinary style.
BE MORE BEE
Theatre. Lightning Bugs, written and performed by Jenni Mackenzie-Jones, directed by Valentin Stoev, with performance also from Abe Buckoke (all BA (Hons) Acting CDT 2016), set and costume design from Rad Konieczny (BA (Hons) Theatre Practice 2018) and sound design from Harry Linden Johnson (BA (Hons) Theatre Practice 2017)
Crescent - The Vaults, Leake Street, 28 Feb & 1 March @22:45
Struggling to fit in? Out of step with this crazy new world? Well Bea’s got just the ticket to make you feel at home. It’s the bees! They know what’s *really* the buzz in this country! Come to Bea’s Garden Party and get stuck in - she’ll guide you through the honey-soaked life-hacks of the British Bee.
RIDE
Musicals and Gigs Theatre. Bottle Cap Theatre, produced by Florence Taylor (MA Creative Producing 2019)
Forge - The Vaults, Leake Street, 3-8 March @19:30
One woman. One bicycle. One hell of a story.
It’s 1895 and 24 year old Annie Londonderry has returned victorious to America, hailed as the first woman ever to cycle around the world.
She’s pioneering, she’s plucky, and she’s pitching her story to the New York World. But as she shares her adventures, the cracks begin to show, and she’s forced to confront a past she’d rather leave unexplored.
RIDE is the incredible true story of a young woman with big plans, and an even bigger imagination, from the award-winning team behind VAULT sell-out THE LIMIT (★★★★★ FringeGuru).
Winner of VAULT Festival Show of the Week (Week 5)
WORK.TXT
Theatre. By Nathan Ellis (MA Writing for Stage and Broadcast Media 2017)
Cavern - The Vaults, Leake Street, 3-8 March @19:50
This is a show about work.
But the worker isn’t here, so it’s down to you.
You’ll clock in at the beginning.
You’ll get short breaks at regular intervals.
You’ll work in a team, and under your own initiative.
You will be your own boss.
You will be free.
work.txt is a show performed entirely by the audience. A show that explores the gig economy, financial instability and automation.
Nominated for VAULT Festival Innovation Award
MADDY
Theatre. Storm the Gods Theatre Company. Written by Jasmin Mandi Ghomi (MA Advanced Theatre Practice 2017), and starring Carly McCann (MFA Advanced Theatre Practice 2018)
The Gift Horse @ The Horse & Stables, 4-6 March @19:00
“What do you do when the love of your life breaks up with you? You get HAMMERED!”
Maddy’s world might be falling apart but that won’t stop her dancing. In this one-woman retelling of Medea, 21-year-old Maddy has the whole world at her feet. She is sassy, beautiful, and lives for her nights out on the dance floor. When her fiancé leaves her for another woman, however, she finds herself stranded thousands of miles away from home without anywhere to turn. As her desperation increases, she begins to realise that she is rapidly spiralling out of control.
With her life slowly coming apart at the seams, what will Maddy do next?
GLITCH
Theatre. Studio Odder & Chronic Insanity. Written and performed by Krystina Nellis (MA Writing for Stage and Broadcast Media 2017), and directed by Callie Nestleroth (MFA Advanced Theatre Practice 2018)
Studio - The Vaults, Leake Street, 7-8 and 14-15 March @16:30
Autism, grief, small towns and video games. Kelly’s got ‘em all.
Kelly, the town’s ‘diagnosed weirdo’, sets out to get her Dad a much-needed operation by winning a video game speed running contest. Except that’s not quite how it works out…
Glitch is a semi-autobiographical take on the nature of difference, the ways we tell stories and the impact those stories have on the people being spoken about.
39 DEGREES
Theatre. RedBellyBlack Theatre, directed by Alistair Wilkinson (BA (Hons) Drama, Applied Theatre and Education 2016)
Cage - The Vaults, Leake Street, 10-15 March @19:30
It’s the July 25th 2019. It’s hot, too hot!
The metaphorical gates of hell have opened for new Prime Minister Boris Johnson, so screw it, let’s extend our overdraft limits for a cheeky pint.
‘I’ve had a week that even Craig David would shy from writing a song about, and now it’s just too fuck’n hot’.
A bold, physical and frankly piping hot piece of new writing. A dark comedy about friendship, fear and a fucker of a week.
FREEDOM HI自由閪
Theatre. Papergang Theatre, produced by Clarissa Widya (MA Advanced Theatre Practice 2006) and including performance from Bonnie Chan (MA Theatre Criticism and Dramaturgy 2018) and Yik Sau Chung (BA (Hons) Acting CDT 2019)
Pit - The Vaults, Leake Street, 10-15 March @19:30
At the time of writing this description (25th October 2019) the Hong Kong AntiELab protestors are entering their 20th week of action. Where will they be as you are reading this? Freedom-Hi is a synthesis, and by March 2020, possibly a retrospective, of theatre and performance art made by UK based Hong Kong and British East Asian artists during the protests. Personal experiences and geo-political commentary combine in an act of total theatre. We don’t know how this ends, this will never end-every thing about this show is subject to change.
Winner of VAULT Festival Show of the Week (Week 5)
BEACH BODY READY
Theatre. The Roaring Girls, with associate artist Lydia Marchant (MA Writing for Stage and Broadcast Media 2018)
Crescent - The Vaults, Leake Street, 17-22 March @19:45
It’s the season of cutting carbs, hitting it hard at the gym, and shaving everything from the chin down. Summer has rocked up and the media has us thinking about how our bodies aren’t up to scratch and there are companies ready to capitalise on that. We’ve been shamed, dehumanised, and humiliated for how we look and we’ve had enough.
Join The Roaring Girls for a defiantly feel-good show which sticks two fingers up at how the media says you should look.
The Roaring Girls are getting Beach Body Ready. Are you?
INVISIBLES
Theatre. MIO Projects, directed by Nastajza Somers (MA Applied Theatre 2019) and produced by María Inés Olmedo (MA Advanced Theatre Practice 2018), as well as including performance from Jimena Mancilla (MA Applied Theatre 2019) and Amanda Vilanova (MA Acting 2017)
Pit - The Vaults, Leake Street, 17-22 March @19:30
The world premiere of Invisibles by Argentinian writer Lola Lagos platforms the voices of two Latin women who despite being robbed from their dignity and freedom, never succumb to losing their spirit.
Sandra and Marisa have been in this place for a long time. A place they thought would bring a better life but only takes and takes and takes away… Yet when the music plays, the women dance, laugh and love. Stuck between abuse and violence, they keep on living and dreaming. Dreaming of a better life, somewhere across the river.
Directed by feminist theatremaker Nastazja Somers, Invisibles is a haunting and political piece of theatre that brings us closer to understanding the real weight of endurance and resistance carried by so many women in many foreign lands.
ABOUT 500
Theatre. Written and directed by Simona Hughes (MFA Advanced Theatre Practice 2019), Dramaturg, Melissa Dunne (MA Advanced Theatre Practice 2007, Lecturer for MA Writing for Stage & Broadcast Media), Movement Director, Mandy Gordon (MFA Movement 2019), sound design from Jack Baxter and Dylan Saberton (current BA (Hons) Theatre Practice students), video design from Douglas Baker (MA Advanced Theatre Practice 2018), Performer Steph Fuller (MA Advanced Theatre Practice 2018).
The Gift Horse @ The Horse & Stables, VAULT, 18-22 March @19:00
With only “About 500” eggs - how can contemporary women possibly fit it all in?
When Clem first dates Luke, she is a 32-year-old ambitious go-getter woman, (eggcount 115), with no interest in motherhood. Four years later, (eggcount 68) and happily in love, she decides she does want a child after all….. A play about eggs and time, and the cruel lack of both. ‘About 500’ was developed in 2018/19 as part of Simona’s Sustained Independent Project on her MFA, and was scratched at the Barbican as part of Fertility Fest 2019 to an overwhelmingly positive response,
“A bold new play for our times. It will move you and make you think in equal measure.” (Jessica Hepburn, founder of Fertility Fest).
MELONADE
Theatre. Created and performed by Becks Turner (BA (Hons) Theatre Practice 2019) and Set and Costume Design from Sophie Janes Frost (BA (Hons) Theatre Practice 2019)
Cage- The Vaults, Leake Street, 18 & 19 March @20:50
If 1 in 10 people in the UK have some form of dyslexia, and 80% of students are going undiagnosed in schools, how many kids are being cheated out of a proper education? This juicy game-show puts our education system to the test and asks why neurodiversity is so often branded as a weakness, when it could be our biggest strength!
With exams getting harder every year, coursework being removed and students being forced to produce A*s like chickens laying eggs, some kids are left feeling like failures before they’ve even begun. But not all hope is lost, Becks Turner is here to remind you that when life gives you lemons, you can make Melonade!
Melonade is a fun, fierce and full-of-glitter show that tears apart the legacy of Michael Gove’s laughable education policies and celebrates the fact that no two brains are the same. Expect melons, lemons and a rigged and raucous game show that exposes the academic bias of our education system, debunking myths about “soft subjects”, empowering the dyslexic community and highlighting a need for a serious change in the way in which we educate and assess students.
List your show here
If you’re a Central graduate, current student or member of staff, and your Vaults Festival show has not been listed on this page, please contact [email protected] with the details.
Image: Butterfly, Bedlam Chorus ©Sam Arbor