A summer festival of “fresh, bold and boundary-pushing performance” is to return to Derby for its 13th year.
Derby Theatre and In Good Company, which offers creative support and business development to Midlands artists and companies, will present Departure Lounge on Friday 11 and Saturday 12 July. It will showcase “cutting-edge work from some of the UK’s most exciting artists and companies”.
The Friday line-up includes MANDEM, a coming-of-age story centred around three young black men set against the backdrop of a board game and heavily scored with grime, dancehall and Afrobeats; Afronaught from the Cocoa Butter Club, a “bold cabaret about building a black, queer, unapologetic future”; and C*ck of Ages by Send In The Clowns, a drag revue “celebrating (and assassinating) rock musicals like RENT, Rock of Ages, The Rocky Horror Show and more; and circus performance High Tea (With a Twist) by Levantes Dance Theatre.
The Saturday programme feature SePondment, a “heartwarming and very silly work-in-progress” cabaret show written and performed by Sinéad Bradyhane; The Privileged and Stumbling, created by South Korean mural artist Woosun Choi and Singaporean theatre practitioner Syania Shaharuddin; and Sh*t Life Crisis by Silent Uproar, a “darkly hilarious karaoke-theatre show”.
Throughout the day the Lonely Arts Club will offer networking opportunities designed to help artists find new collaborators “without the pressure of cold calling or elevator pitches”. Whether you’re looking for a director, writer or producer, this session will provide space to share ideas and meet like-minded creatives.
Jen Sullivan, In Good Company’s creative producer, said, “every year it’s a labour of love to piece together something truly special for the freelance artistic community that we serve, and the wider industry network who join us.
“As ever, it’s been important for us to offer an original and representative line-up with performances, workshops, discussion and installations from the Midlands and across the country. There’s a big offering of joyful and subversive work on offer, alongside events that will bring us together to focus on some very real challenges that artists are coming up against.”