Ten regional theatre companies will test new material, present work in progress and look for audience feedback at the 2015 First Bite Festival.
Held at mac birmingham and delivered by award-winning independent theatre studio China Plate, the one-day festival will provide an opportunity for artists and companies to perform new ideas to an audience of theatregoers and regional industry professionals.
For the first time this year, the organisers asked for applications from artists across the East and West Midlands.
Two companies will receive a commission of £3,000 to develop the work and to present it at its next stage, Bite Size Festival at Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry in November.
Previous shows commissioned from the First Bite Festival include Caroline Horton's award-winning You’re Not Like The Other Girls Chrissy, which has toured since 2010 and been seen by more than 10,000 people and Our Fathers by Babakas which played at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2013 and has toured internationally.
At this year's First Bite Festival, Barrel Organ, a West Midlands touring company with a commitment to “formal innovation and socio-political engagement”, will present I’m Not Lonely.
Croatian theatre maker with a Birmingham address Tina Hofman will perform Lucid Interval.
Humanish, a “collective of female fools full of infectious energy and ludicrous character comedy”, will stage Holy Presents, a puppet sketch comedy.
New writing will meet drag king cabaret in the one-person debut show Joan by Lucy J Skilbeck, Derby Theatre’s BBC Performing Arts Fellow 2014.
Rachael Young from Nottingham, whose work is “playful, experimental and often autobiographical”, will perform I, Myself and Me.
Three generations will battle their personal demons in a pop-up, re-imagined fairy tale for all ages, What Big Eyes by Cloud Cuckoo Land. The company “puts audiences at the heart of the story using live music, interaction, sensory surprises and high-tech wizardry”.
Almost Human, which “pushes the boundaries of dated technology and scenographic practice” and “specialises in film as performance”, will present The Fruits of Failure.
Nottingham writer Michael Pinchbeck is behind The Man Who Flew into Space From His Apartment, a slideshow exploring absence and presence, flying and falling, and the power of the artist to fail or be free.
Stephanie Ridings attempts to understand women who marry men on death row and tries not to be judgmental in The Road to Huntsville, an “exploration into unconventional love, state homicide and challenging predetermined perceptions”.
Part performance, part TV game show, Blast From The Past by Spiltmilk Dance is a journey through the fads, fashions, blockbusters and best-sellers of the past six decades of British culture.
The First Bite Festival will be held at mac birmingham on Saturday 2 May. Tickets cost £10 for the full day or £6 for the afternoon or evening session.
Further details are available at the mac birmingham web site.