The Coventry Mysteries Company has appointed Elgiva Field and Ian Whitaker as its joint festival directors to create its free performing arts festival for 2014.
“We’re delighted to have appointed Ian and Elgiva as guest directors. Their combined strengths of artistic innovation and audience engagement put them clear frontrunners for the role,” said board member and executive dean of Coventry University’s school of art and design, Dr Seymour Roworth-Stokes.
“They’re perfectly placed to deliver a festival that celebrates community cohesion, identity and values.”
Early in its history, Coventry was renowned for its mystery plays which were performed on the Feast of Corpus Christi. No fewer than four kings of England visited the city to see the religious pageants.
Now in its fifth year, the new Coventry Mysteries “aims to tell the story of mankind’s search for meaning from many different perspectives, bringing artists and community groups together in a creative celebration that crosses cultures, generations and social backgrounds in ways that are both inclusive and inspiring”.
Using Coventry’s city centre as its stage, the Coventry Mysteries Company aims to “transform urban spaces through artistic engagement that encourages people to see the world and their community in new ways”.
Elgiva Field is an independent theatre director and producer. With her own company Oblique House, she has directed new writing and site-specific premières. She has worked as an associate with Punchdrunk, Pentabus, Unlimited Theatre and children’s theatre company Theatre-Rites.
Ian Whitaker has worked on festivals for Leeds City Council and the West Yorkshire Playhouse, the National Theatre, LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre), the Barbican Centre and Southwark council.
He was a member of the senior management team which reopened the Young Vic in 2006 and at the Lyric Hammersmith.
The festival will take place over the Spring Bank Holiday between Friday 23 May and Monday 26 May 2014.