DEparture Lounge, Derby Theatre’s summer festival of new work, is to be staged for a fourth consecutive year.
Locations in and around the theatre will be used for workshops and discussions as well as “the very best in contemporary performance”.
DEparture Lounge is produced by In Good Company, a development programme for artists making work in the East Midlands. Creative producer Ruby Glaskin said, “Our 2016 programme is action packed and full of a diverse range of performances. I’m delighted that the festival will be one of the first places you can catch new work from Caroline Horton as well as an exciting Edinburgh preview from Annie Siddons.
“This year we will see the première of two productions specifically supported by DEparture Lounge, Forward Theatre Project’s Clothes Swap Theatre Party and LaPelle’s Factory’s Desperados.
“What’s remarkable about this year’s festival is the number of shows made by East Midlands artists—a real testament to the talent and creativity in the region.
“I’m also pleased that this year marks our first full family day offering—with Sunday daytime being entirely dedicated to work for young audiences.”
Clothes Swap Theatre Party by Forward Theatre (Friday 22 and Saturday 23 July) involves actual clothes swapping. Audience members should take a bag of old clothes to swap at the event.
Other highlights include: All of Me by Caroline Horton (Friday 22 July), a “trashy and funny play about a woman who thinks about dying—a lot”; I, Myself and Me by Rachael Young (Saturday 23 July), a “poignant piece of theatre which explores our fascination with coupling and those living with single status shame”; How Not to Live in Suburbia by Annie Siddons (Thursday 21 July) a “brutal, hilarious and poignant show about a single mother, artist and proud urbanite dealing with accidentally finding herself living life in the suburbs; and Tanja by Strawberry Blonde Curls (Thursday) , an “impassioned call to arms, a play and a campaign around the subject of asylum seekers that blends drama, spoken word, puppetry, sign language and verbatim theatre”.
For 2016, Derby Theatre has teamed up with a new venue, The HopBarn in Southwell, Nottinghamshire to offer Package Holiday which offers an emerging theatre company the chance to develop its work and preview it at DEparture Lounge.
LaPelle’s Factory from Nottingham will present Desperados, a “wry smirk and scuffle against the grinding monotony of the modern world”, on Saturday 23 July.
The full programme is available at the Derby Theatre web site.