Coventry’s Warwick Arts Centre is to host Bite Size, a day-long festival of work from “some of the most original and intrepid theatre makers in the Midlands”.
The line-up includes performances from well-established companies alongside emerging artists. Some shows will be in their early stages while others will be completed, giving audiences the chance to see a range of work throughout the day.
Bite Size is partly a showcase but it also offers theatre companies a platform to develop and shape work through audience feedback. For the first time the festival will include companies from the east as well as west Midlands.
Independent theatre studio China Plate, associate producer at Warwick Arts Centre, is co-ordinating the festival.
Co-directors Ed Collier and Paul Warwick said, “this year’s festival offers a terrific snapshot of the most exciting work being produced across the Midlands. It’s the biggest line-up ever and includes Midlands legends alongside companies that will be new to many.
“We’re especially pleased to be welcoming artists from the east Midlands and a handful of guest companies from the south east.”
The festival will feature three completed shows: United Artists’ The Boy Who Bit Picasso for young audiences, Lucy J Skilbeck’s drag king tribute to Joan of Arc, Joan, performed by Milk Presents and a new work from Stan’s Cafe, A Translation of Shadows.
Two companies will also present excerpts of new shows commissioned after the First Bite festival earlier this year: Humanish’s Holy Presents and Stephanie Ridings’s The Road to Huntsville. Each was awarded £3,000 to develop its ideas.
The festival will be held on Saturday 7 November starting at 10:45AM. More information is available at the Warwick Arts Centre web site.