Birmingham Fest, which “fills a previously much-missing fringe element in the city’s theatre scene”, continues for a second week with a number of productions taking place at Blue Orange Theatre.
Damned Cheek will present The Speech, about a Prime Minister and her speechwriter 10 to 15 years in the future, on Monday 20 and Wednesday 22 July at 7PM.
Midsummer Theatre Company will perform 2 Up, 2 Down, 1 Back on Monday 20 July at 9PM. Five teenagers wake up in a void, neither knowing one another nor how they got there. The only thing visible is a box with the words “2 up, 2 down, 1 back” written on it. Forced to play a deadly game, they have to face up to the consequences of their actions and fight for a chance to return to reality.
Four plays will “explore the edges of society and extremes of human emotion” as part of this year’s Big Script which is “dedicated to excellence and pushing the boundaries in new writing”.
Writers Ian Kendall, Tim Wright, Robert Warrington and Liz John are behind Extreme which will be presented on Thursday 23 and Friday 24 July at 9PM.
A one-man show by Alex Brockie, An Audience with Gorgeous George, will take audiences back to the days of wrestling with a man who was “the first star of television and the prototype of the modern celebrity”. It premières at the Blue Orange on Saturday 24 July at 7PM before heading to the Edinburgh Fringe.
Four venues are involved in Birmingham Fest and at the Old Joint Stock Theatre Tom Dussek will portray a poet narrating the action in Beowulf, a contemporary adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon epic. Puppetry and live music are included in the show which will be staged on Saturday 25 July at 7PM.