The 2016 World Festival of Theatre for Young Audiences On the Edge is to take place in the UK for the first time and will be held in venues across Birmingham.
The festival is an annual event that moves to a different international city each year. The 2016 festival will feature 16 shows by artists from 14 countries including the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Australia and South Korea.
The eight-day festival will include theatre, dance and workshops and will be held at Birmingham REP, mac birmingham, Birmingham City University, The Patrick Centre at Birmingham Hippodrome, Blue Orange Theatre and The Old Rep.
Steve Ball, executive producer for On the Edge, said, “toddlers and younger children will love the trampoline-based fun of Travelling Light Theatre Company and Bristol Old Vic’s Boing!. We have the Dracula-inspired tale Nosferatu by French company Bob Théâtre while the fantastically named show Why Do Hyenas Have Shorter Back Legs Than Front Legs And Why Do Monkeys Have Bare Bottoms? by Seydou Boro Company brings the colours of Africa to the mac birmingham stage.
“Teenagers and older children will enjoy 20 Stories High and Theatre-Rites’ The Broke ‘n’ Beat Collective, a hip-hop gig that explores the lives of young people in the UK, and The Hamilton Complex by Belgian company Hetpaleis, a performance by 13 teenage girls that looks at moments in life when things begin to change.”
The festival is expected to attract about 500 international visitors to discuss and explore how theatre can continue to strive and push boundaries for young audiences and also to encourage international exchange and collaboration.
The festival runs from Saturday 2 until Saturday 9 July.