An annual performing arts festival in Birmingham is to return, although it will be smaller than usual.
Birmingham Fest celebrates the city’s venues and arts scene. It gives the “perfect platform” for artists and companies from across the UK and abroad to showcase their work in a two-and-a-half week programme.
Among the highlights are two shows from Blue Orange Arts, an adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Charles Dickens’s The Signalman. Both will be presented at the Blue Orange Theatre from Wednesday 14 until Saturday 17 July.
SOLD by Kuumba Nia Arts and Unlock the Chains Collective gives a woman’s first-hand account of brutality at the height of the slave trade. Mary Prince went on to become an abolitionist and autobiographer, highlighting the harsh realities of the brutality of being bought, owned and sold.
Winner of a best ensemble theatre award at the Edinburgh Festival, SOLD can be seen at the Blue Orange Theatre on Tuesday 20 and Wednesday 21 July.
Inamoment Theatre will be staging Romeo and Juliet: The Confessions—the story of the star-crossed lovers but not as told by Shakespeare. Frank Bramwell has penned the confessions of the Friar, the Nurse and Juliet Capulet in what is described as an “insightful and engaging new piece of writing”.
Alex Nikitas plays the Friar, Gerry Johnson is the Nurse and Vicky Holding plays Juliet in the play which will be presented at the Blue Orange Theatre on Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 July.
The full programme which runs from Wednesday 14 until Saturday 31 July is available at the Birmingham Fest web site.