VAULT Festival, one of London’s biggest, boldest and wildest arts festivals, runs this year from 24 January to 19 March 2023 and we’re delighted to share details of the many shows which include involvement from our alumni, students and staff!
If you’re a Central graduate, student or member of staff and your VAULT Festival show is not listed, please contact the Alumni Office with the details.
Opened in January
DEGENERATE (WORK IN PROGRESS)
COMEDY - FUNNY / SOLO SHOW / UNDERREPRESENTED VOICES
this is not a test. Written and performed by Becky Reeves
Crypt, 24 January to 19 February
Maria isn’t dead yet; she’s just forty.
DEGENERATE is an experimental coming of age comedy, from someone who has already
come of age. Treading the line between storytelling and stand-up, this one woman show
explores the connection between being a women approaching midlife and the lure of the
vampire. Surveying the desolate landscape between desirability and death, Maria (“…feisty,
animated and impassioned” *****) exposes the invisibility of middle age. A rallying cry to
anyone who’s felt othered, empowering them to own their narrative, laugh, dance and, most
importantly, bite back. There will be blood…
IMAGINARY NATURAL BEINGS
THEATRE - BLACK VOICES / DRAMA / NEW WRITING
Mojola Akinyemi. With assistant direction from Xhuliana Shehu
Network Theatre, 24-27 January
‘imaginary natural beings’ is a journey of self-exploration through an indifferent world. The Girl becomes a woman, The Boy becomes a man, and they both shape each other’s lives – or at least, that is how it is supposed to work. Within a fluid, deconstructed theatre space, the boundaries of character and actor become blurred. In a work inspired by contemporary poetry and absurdist theatre, ‘imaginary natural beings’ explores the nature of Blackness, womanhood, and coming-of-age in modern Britain.
The Girl, our Girl, is not alright. But she is trying to be. Let’s see as she does.
GEORGINA THOMAS (WORK IN PROGRESS)
COMEDY - CHARACTER COMEDY / STORYTELLING / SURREAL
Written and performed by Georgina Thomas
The Basement at Vaulty Towers, 26 January
This is an experimental work-in-progress by Georgina Thomas, a polite young lady from Hertfordshire. The performance will last approximately 41 minutes – the equivalent of a journey between St Pancras International and Luton Airport Parkway (on a slow train, not the fast service). It is a comedy about competition, commuting and choral music.
AN ICE THING TO SAY
PERFORMANCE ART LIVE ART & INSTALLATIONS - DANCE THEATRE / DRAMA / PUPPETRY
Vertebra Theatre. With performance from Depi Gorgogiani and facilitation from Chryssi Janetou
Cavern, 27-29 January
In an Icy land of ruins, a human being and a polar bear are meeting in an encounter of surviving the Anthropocene Era. “An Ice Thing to Say” blends Ice installation, music and physical theatre to explore our impact on nature. Drawing on inspiration from Erich Fromm’s book ‘To Have or to Be?’ and Ecoscenography, we invite the audience into a multi sensory experience of our inner and outer icy landscapes. We attempt to challenge the idea that the human being is at the centre of the world and we attempt to construct an embodied inquire into ‘what has gone wrong?’
SIAPA YANG BAWA MELAYU AKU PERGI? (WHO TOOK MY MALAY AWAY?)
THEATRE - ASIAN VOICES / POLITICAL / UNDERREPRESENTED VOICES
Faizal Abdullah. Produced by Khai Ramli, with dramaturgy from Faezah Zulkifli
Network Theatre, 28 January to 5 February
Siapa Yang Bawa Melayu Aku Pergi? (Who Took My Malay Away?) is a lecture-performance that was inspired by the creator’s early experiences of living in London, and made with the knowledge of life as a Malay person who was born, raised and educated in Singapore. This solo performance explores what it means to be Malay and what it then means to be Malay in Singapore.
What begins simply as an attempt to reconnect with his culture – by sharing the disappearing traditional writing and reading system of the Malay Language, Jawi – then becomes a deeper exploration of lost culture, customs, heritage and self.
TRACES OF THE WIND
SITE SPECIFIC IMMERSIVE & DIGITAL-LIVE HYBRID - INTERACTIVE / LIVE ART
NOT SET Group. Produced by Xi Chen
Cage, 28-29 January
It whispers to your ear, pieces of memories, and silently slips away. You don’t know where it comes, and where it will go. You don’t know when it will appear and how it will end. It travels between past, present, and the future, across lands and the sea. Eventually, it becomes time and space.
Traces of the Wind is a multi-sensory performance exploring how sensations of nature link to our memories and emotions. Inspired by theories in Ecological Anthropology, we decide to seek for the answer within unseen forces of the wind.
VIX & HELEN
THEATRE - GREAT WITH MATES / NEW WRITING / WOMEN’S VOICES
Heloise Spring. With movement direction from Amy Rushent
Pit, 31 January - 5 February
Vix & Helen are growing up in an age of misinformation.
There’s a neurological mismatch driven by tech rapidly advancing whilst female reproductive rights regress and women’s issues remain stigmatised. They tell the story of a bizarre incident at their younger siblings’ Reception class, where a small army of five-year-olds became obsessed by a picture drawn by Vix’s little brother. Through seemingly inane arguing, the friends reveal the shame Vix is carrying and Helen’s increasingly worrying relationship with food.
We follow Vix & Helen, stuck in limbo, between growing up, or not, being friends, or not, and being on the verge of disaster, or not.
Opening in February
LILIT (WORK IN PROGRESS)
CABARET DRAG & BURLESQUE - CABARET / DISABLED VOICES / LGBTQIA+ VOICES
Lilit Lesser. Co-produced by Jack Clearwater
Cavern, 3-4 February
‘LILIT’ is a wickedly funny, razor-sharp, joyous queer cabaret in the voice of Lilith.
Lilith is described in the Tanakh as a dweller in ‘waste spaces’. Created not from a rib, but from the same dust as Adam, Lilith refused to be subservient to him and instead chose exile, pain and freedom as a nocturnal demonic spirit. Lilith reclaims the incantations designed to keep them out. In so doing, they empower ‘othered’ entities (be they sheydim, demons, Jewish, queer or disabled bodies). Through new and ancient ritual practices for healing the unhealable Lilith engages with the powerful, earthy magic of the everyday, as performed by their ancestors. While occasionally moonlighting as a nightclub singer and disembowelling the odd Home Secretary.
THICK ‘N’ FAST (WORK IN PROGRESS)
COMEDY - FUNNY / WOMEN’S VOICES / WORK IN PROGRESS
Thick ‘n’ Fast, co-founded by Georgina Thomas and Cassie Symes
The Spacement at The Glitch, 3 February
Award-nominated duo Thick ‘n’ Fast embark on a pioneering journey to conquer the Final (we mean it this time) Frontier: the Metaverse.
Cassie and Georgie are two technologically-challenged individuals who don’t know their IOS from their SEO. But for one night only, they are uploading themselves into the virtual community everyone is tweeting about: the Metaverse.
Goggles on, they are ready to deep-dive into deep fakes. Will they crack crypto? Will they understand what an NFT actually is? Will anyone?
GOING DEUTSCHE
THEATRE - FUNNY / NEW WRITING / POLITICAL
Solo show from Anna Clover, directed by Liz Guterbock
Cage, 4-5 February
Should you ever go back to someone, or something, that almost destroyed you? What if they’re sorry? What if they say they’ve changed? What if they’re offering an EU passport?
Following a bereavement, Brexit and a bad break up Anna decides to make some changes. When Anna suggested getting back with her ex, her friends were appalled, and to her surprise, her family felt very much the same way when she jumped into bed with Germany.
In ‘Going Deutsch’ Anna dates the country offering her citizenship despite taking the lives (and passports) of so many who came before her. Should she get back with Germany? Can they get past their history? Could they ever make it work?
BORDERS ألسياج הגדר
THEATRE - INTERNATIONAL / LGBTQIA+ VOICES / NEW WRITING
Junction Theatre & Performance. Directed by Neta Gracewell, with set and costume design from Ethan Cheek, movement direction from Adi Gortler and lighting design from Cheng Keng
Crescent, 7-12 February
Boaz and George meet on Grindr. One is in Israel, the other in Lebanon. They’re horny but can’t meet physically. Something in their conversation excites them. The distance, the “enemy”, the foreignness, the experience of being gay in another culture. They both fill a void the other has, becoming each other’s secret love. As they decide to meet in Berlin, the border between the countries heats up, and they’re forced to make difficult decisions.
Inspired by a real encounter between the Israeli writer and a Lebanese man on Grindr, Borders is a story about two people, never meant to meet, who try to form an intimate relationship against all odds.
GENERAL SECRETARY
COMEDY - FUNNY / SATIRE / WOMEN’S VOICES
Thick ‘n’ Fast, co-founded by Georgina Thomas and Cassie Symes
Cage, 7-9 February
One of the Scotsman’s ‘Best Duos at the Fringe,’ Thick ‘n’ Fast return to take on the world.
Cassie and Georgie are just two insignificant individuals until, out of the blue, they are landed with a minor responsibility: becoming world leaders. From taking selfies to taking charge, they must find creative solutions for the biggest global issues. But do they have what it takes to handle this almighty responsibility? After all, absolute power corrupts absolutely, right?
‘Satirical gold. This comedy duo should be on Netflix’ (The Spectator). Created in association with Applecart Arts.
I F**KED YOU IN MY SPACESHIP
THEATRE - LGBTQIA+ VOICES / NEW WRITING / SCI-FI
With movement direction from Patrice Bowler
Cavern, 7-10 February
“If you don’t want it, I mean, it’s a bit f**king weird, isn’t it? You’re just a guy in an alien costume.”
Two couples launch an extraterrestrial game of shifting relationship dynamics threatened by invasion, alienation, and abduction, when they invite a stranger into their homes with hope of sparking new life.
An uncanny and razor-sharp comedy-drama by Tony Craze Award-winning playwright Louis Emmitt-Stern. Directed by Joseph Winer.
FICKLE WEATHER
PERFORMANCE ART LIVE ART & INSTALLATIONS - LGBTQIA+ VOICES / LIVE ART / SCI-FI
Produced and performed by Cerys Salkeld Green
Pit, 11-12 February
Spoken word, live sound improvisation, and digital landscaping blend together in this solo performance to explore a new world, taking the audience on a journey of discovery and memory.
This work is a non linear science fiction exploration of a world of contradictions and mistakes. How can a half human, half digital body exist in a world seemingly not built for them? How can this lonely figure reconcile with their past? How can we find joy, and dance through the contradictions of everyday life? This performance examines capitalism, environmental destruction, queer futures, memory and embodied trauma.
Expect movement, messiness, reflections and rewirings
ON THE LINE
THEATRE - MINORITY VOICES / NEW WRITING / WORK IN PROGRESS
Odd Eyes Theatre, with performance from Zacchaeus Kayode
Crescent, 11 February
‘We stick out like balls on a bulldog in these endz. It’s gonna be like three seconds before they stop and search us.’
When inner city teenagers Tia and Kai find themselves living it up in their rich schoolmate’s mansion, they think their day can’t get any better. Until a priceless fishing fly vanishes, leading to home truths being revealed and life-long friendships stretched to breaking point.
Gritty, gripping and witty, On The Line is a coming of age play for today exposing the challenges faced by young people growing up in the current tough political environment.
GREY AREA
THEATRE - GREAT FOR A DATE / LGBTQIA+ VOICES / NEW WRITING
Homing Bird Theatre. Written and performed by Jonny Peyton-Hill, directed by Chiara Virgilio, with movement and intimacy direction from Kiren Virdee
Network Theatre, 14-19 February
“Grey Area” is an intimate semi-autobiographical performance highlighting the effects of unaddressed mental health in relationships, told through the lens of deconstructed, fragmented memories.
The play responds to two contemporary issues, homobitransphobia & ableism. A non-linear investigation of the complexities & nuances of relationships & the moral boundaries we set: highlighting the different dynamics in LGBTQIA+ relationships while exploring what makes love (and the suffering it causes) a universal experience.
ROOMS LEFT BEHIND
SITE SPECIFIC IMMERSIVE & DIGITAL-LIVE HYBRID - INTERNATIONAL / POLITICAL / MIGRANT & REFUGEE VOICES
Produced by Amy Sze and Anya Ostrovskaia
VOID, 14-19 February
Two rooms, one from Hong Kong and one from Moscow, left by their owners fleeing for freedom.
4400 miles apart, different languages, distant cultures,
except that the walls eternize tear gas and tears.
Premiered at LIFT Festival 2022, 遺 комнаты (wai-komnaty, or ‘Rooms left behind’) brings you on an immersive journey into the intimate world of complex identities and a glimpse of political immigration. Working with a Ukrainian artist who has had to flee Russia, and Hong Kong artists who left their city, the theatrical installation explores the idea of what it means to be to leave your home and life behind.
SURFACING
THEATRE - DISABLED VOICES / SURREAL / THRILLER
ASYLUM. With performance from Daniel Rainford
Studio, 14-19 February
NHS therapist Luc is fine. Honest. She’s definitely not overwhelmed by meeting Owen, a new client, definitely not freaked out by what she’s started seeing, definitely doesn’t think her reality has been punctured and something else is leaking in. Luc goes for a swim and feels a hand dragging her down to the bottom of the lake…
When she surfaces, her reality is different. She’s haunted by tormented mice, shape-shifting people, and secrets she thought she’d buried. In this breath-taking new two-hander, motion sensor tech combines with motion-responsive video design and composition to create a contemporary Through the Looking Glass world.
All performances relaxed, audio described and captioned.
DARK MATTER
SPOKEN WORD & POETRY - BLACK VOICES / SCI-FI / SPOKEN WORD
Produced by Jess Senanayake
Cavern, 21-25 February
In an elaborately cosmic attempt to reignite the connection to her ancestral inheritance, Takura blends western ideas of quantum physics and astrology with zimbabwean myth to reconnect with the spirit of her dead grandmother. Despite the disapproval of her family Takura voyages through google in an attempt to connect with the ancestral plane.
Will her Mbuya approve of Takura now? Or should some traditions be left to rest?
Told through spoken word poetry, movement, live looping and animation, ‘dark matter’ is a lyrically playful piece that explores the power of reclaiming and remixing traditions.
Themes: colonisation, queerness in the african diaspora, grief, ritual, afrofuturisum, belonging, spiritual inheritance and cultural cosmology.
IT’S A MOTHERF**KING PLEASURE
THEATRE - DISABLED VOICES / NEW WRITING / SATIRE
FlawBored, co-founded by Samuel Brewer, Aarian Mehrabani and Chloe Palmer, with set design from Cara Evans, stage management from Lauren Hastings and marketing from Natalia Knowlton
Cage, 21-26 February
“Blindness isn’t sexy… yet.”
Pleasance Associate Artists FlawBored present their multi-award winning dark comedy.
Blind talent manager Tim desperately tries to make disability the next cultural cachet in a satire of the monetisation of identity politics.
It’s a fully accessible show!… well we tried to make it fully accessible… it’s somewhat accessible. We tried okay? We are really trying. We’re doing our best to make this show as accessible as possible… but it’s hard… . it’s really f**king hard…
RIGHT OF WAY
THEATRE - CLIMATE / NEW WRITING / UNDERREPRESENTED VOICES
Written, directed and performed by Beth Bowden, and produced by Susannah Bramwell
Cage, 21-26 February
‘I don’t remember where I am when I decide to walk. Maybe the idea creeps up on me over time – born somewhere within me the first time I saw the sea.
Like osmosis, the thought it soaks into my skin and lies in wait until I cry it out as a single teardrop. Glistening, shimmering, and whole – it falls out of my subconscious and into my knowledge.
The know, the knowing, that I need to walk.’
RIGHT OF WAY, involving walking the South West Coast Path, is a semi-autobiographical piece that explores the intimate connection we have with powerful bodies of water, our heritage, and the women in our lives. Rooted in a place of joy, breath, and deep listening, it is an embodied reflection on chronic illness, accessibility, Young Carers, and radical joy.
THEATRE OF GULAGS
PERFORMANCE ART LIVE ART & INSTALLATIONS - HUMAN RIGHTS / IMMERSIVE THEATRE / VERBATIM
Produced by Amy Sze and Anya Ostrovskaia
Cavern, 26 February
Theatre of Gulags is a theatrical installation exploring the dark history of the Soviet Union labour camps, and the full-scale theatres that were built inside them. Theatres behind the fence were filled with artists from distinct theatrical and ethnic backgrounds – all prisoners.
Walk through the camp corridor to discover the stories of four prisoners behind the hessian fabric curtain. A Queer Roma man, a Ukrainian theatre revolutionary, a Jewish puppetry maker, and the first woman to direct an Opera, all trapped inside the gulag walls. They will tell you about their journeys – from their homes, to the black NKVD cars, to the train carriages with no windows, to barracks, and onto the stage. Continue walking through the corridor, until you find your seat in a GULAG theatre, and the show of truth will begin.
ASIAN GIRLS IN THERAPY
THEATRE - ASIAN VOICES / FUNNY / WOMEN’S VOICES
Written, directed and performed by Gurjot Dhaliwal and Megan Soh, with performance from Racks Nieto
Crypt, 28 February
‘Asian Girls in Therapy’ is a dark comedy that follows the therapy journey of Kiran and Cheon making them face their deepest demons, desires and depressive episodes in the form of therapy sessions and diary entries. Tinged with a sardonic zest, the girls are seen to convey their emotions often through humour and a rawness that whilst uncomfortable is also high-key relatable. Whilst their narratives don’t involve one another, their simultaneous experience taking place before the audience makes their individual dilemmas find an interweaving pattern- echoing the message of not being alone in our mental health struggles.
Opening in March
NOBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE
COMEDY - MUSICAL COMEDY / STORYTELLING
Performed by Jamie Finn
The Spacement at The Glitch, 2-9 March
Musical Comedian Jamie Finn gives a work in progress of his show Nobody’s Talking About Jamie. In his 20s Jamie focused on 2 things: Love and Music. He succeeded at neither. We follow Jamie delving into his past; through the ups and downs, the heartbreaks, one night stands, ecstasies and catastrophes that make up his deeply mediocre existence.
Jamie will learn that love conquers nothing, and that true pursuit of his dream must begin with finding out who he really is. Even if he turns out to just be the same as everybody else…
WE’LL BE WHO WE ARE
THEATRE - NEW WRITING / SURREAL / UNDERREPRESENTED VOICES
Naomi Obeng & WoLab, led by Artistic Director Alistair Wilkinson
Cavern, 10-12 March
“I don’t know what to imagine now.”
Kit, Emery and Tracy meet just before their school reunion, but a simple search for shoes quickly spirals into an existential event that fractures their personal identities.
Quick. Wild. Slow. Sad. Soft. Sharp. A question mark. We’ll Be Who We Are is perhaps about how perception constructs reality, maybe about escaping your past, and possibly about absurd social norms that only make sense if you squint.
It’s definitely a singular theatrical experience that revels in the strange. A plant-filled play that embraces quiet tenderness and envelops you in its playful logic.
CON-VERSION
DRAMA / LGBTQIA+ VOICES / NEW WRITING
Paper Mug Theatre. Written by Rory Thomas-Howes, with design from Lulu Tam, and movement direction from Tilda O’Grady
Crescent, 14-19 March
‘Family is just another word for love. People don’t think you can choose either one. What do you think?’
Shortlisted for the VAULT Five and Charlie Hartill Award, Paper Mug Theatre presents CON-VERSION, a genre-defying exploration of conversion therapy and its effects on an ordinary British family. Tonight is a special night – Son’s returning home after a year of conversion therapy, kindly paid for by Mother and Father. Meanwhile, Sister is hiding a devastating truth. Father is trying to get Mother to talk to him. Mother is laying her trap. And The Neighbour’s Boy is lingering on the garden fence, hoping to see Son once more.
GREY WIDOW
THEATRE - DRAG / HORROR / NEW WRITING
Crunchy Leaf Productions LTD / Lady Aria Grey (AKA Callum Tilbury)
Pit, 14-19 March
In this acclaimed monologue play, Lady Aria Grey tells the haunting tale of her turbulent marriage with her recently deceased ex-husband. She killed him, you see, but she didn’t do it properly, and now she can’t seem to banish his ghost. Marvel as she glides effortlessly from memoir, to lip sync, to ghost story, to something altogether unholy.
Written and performed by Lady Aria Grey (AKA Callum Tilbury), Grey Widow takes the audience on an eerie, hilarious journey into the darkest corners of drag. So strap in, strap on, and prepare to summon some spirits – it’s going to be a bumpy night.
MELONADE
THEATRE - GREAT WITH MATES / INTERACTIVE / WOMEN’S VOICES
G&T Theatre, co-founded by Becks Turner
Cage, 14-17 March
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!
Melonade is a fun, fierce and full-of-glitter show that tears apart the Tory government’s laughable neurotypical 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 neurodiverse community and highlighting a need for a serious change in the way in which we educate and assess students.
THAT’S ACE
THEATRE - FUNNY / LGBTQIA+ VOICES / SOLO SHOW
Written and directed by Jonny Brace
Pit, 14-17 March
Ace has arrived 15 minutes before the club opens because a) she’s never been clubbing and b) on time is late. She must survive the entire night in this hostile new environment so she can meet Sasha – the person who invited her and also her school crush.
But is her crush romantic or platonic? And why does everyone keep talking about sex? Ace has never had this dilemma before so it’s all very confusing.
This contemporary LGBTQIA+ play explores attraction, asexuality and growing up.
BURNOUT
THEATRE - CLIMATE / NEW WRITING / UNDERREPRESENTED VOICES
SHYBAIRN. Written by Nicole Acquah, directed by Caitlin Evans, with design from Nic Farr and sound design from Jamie Lu
Cavern, 18-19 March
‘Like the planet I’m trying to save I am screaming – and you want me to speak of hope?’
Amara meets Bridgette at a protest, one of them, ‘hippy, green, save-the-planet’ things. She’s just popped out to grab some milk and now she’s late – and there’s a flood coming.
Bridgette’s a committed activist. Amara’s about to finish her GCSEs. Their town’s been flooded. Again. But how’s getting arrested going to help anything? They can’t afford to do that.
BURNOUT was created with climate activists across the UK. The show exposes the burnout experienced by activists from marginalised communities alongside the burnout of our planet.
Please note: The information above was collected in advance of the Festival and was correct at the time of publishing this article.