Les Commandos Percu and Deabru Beltzak’s creation Danbor Talka: The Clash of The Drums is to have its UK première at Derby Festé.
Festé is an “annual extravaganza of city-wide live performances and breath-taking acts” which is being staged for the ninth year.
Les Commandos Percu involves drummers marching towards one another with “the sole purpose of this symbolic confrontation” being to “turn collision into interaction, to sublimate fury into language, to light the unifying fire that brings hearts together”.
Another highlight will feature the Dutch “masters of street theatre” Close Acts stalking the streets with their gigantic prehistoric birds Saurus in a night-time procession.
Derby Festé 2015 will be produced and presented by dance venue Déda, Derby LIVE, Derby Theatre and arts centre QUAD in association with the Without Walls Associate Touring Network.
Adam Buss, QUAD’s chief executive, said, “we always want to present something out-of-this-world for Festé each year, and with these two stunning shows and the amazing, jam-packed Festé programme for the whole weekend, 2015 once again promises the thousands of people who attend each year an abundance of treats, thrills and surprises.”
Derby-based 1623 theatre company is mentoring a local artist to create a new piece of inclusive street theatre based on Shakespeare’s Macbeth. James Varney has written Macbrew which was developed with support from 1623's patron, award-winning playwright Mark Ravenhill. He said Macbrew is, “great fun and uses BSL (British Sign Language) in a really interesting way”.
Derby Festé events are free except for Danbor Talka: The Clash of the Drums and will take place throughout the city centre on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 September.
The full programme is available at the Derby Festé web site.