Twenty-three performances from 12 countries will run alongside exhibitions, discussions and workshops when Birmingham’s annual festival of European work returns to the city for a fourth year.
Each of the pieces at the BE Festival has been selected for “its ability to transcend cultural and linguistic boundaries”.
Acknowledging the racial and cultural tensions that are often associated with difficult economic times, the festival hopes to “recognise the shared values and experiences that unite people from across Europe, while providing space to debate the existing problems and the potential future of the continent”.
The main programme consists of four 30-minute shows each night in the old metal works factory @ AE Harris, located in the city's Jewellery Quarter.
Each day opens with Feedback Café, a session that enables audiences to meet and discuss work with those who make it.
A communal dinner, served after the second of the four performances each night, presents another opportunity to share ideas and experiences over a Mediterranean-inspired meal.
Highlights of this year’s programme include Remor by Spanish company Res de Res and Artigues, a site-specific work that “pieces together the death of a relationship through an innovative blend of circus and physical theatre”.
Returning to the festival are Teatro Sotterraneo (Italy) with their “audience-focused laughter experiment” Homo Ridens_Birmingham, and Atresbandes (Spain) with Solfatara, an “inventive and comic study of fear rising to the surface”.
Danish company Out of Balanz returns to Birmingham with its new production Next Door while performances receiving their UK première include An Opus for Seven Generators by Random Collision of the Netherlands.
The BE Festival will be held @ AE Harris 110 Northwood Street, Birmingham B3 1SZ from 2nd until 6th July.
There will also be free workshops at Birmingham REP from 3rd until 5th July.
Further information is available at www.befestival.org.