APRIL - Transform Festival

19–22APRIL—

A FESTIVAL OF BOLD, LOCAL &

INTERNATIONAL THEATRE.

TRANSFORMFESTIVAL.ORG#TRANSFORM17

We’re back with our boldest festival yet, and our very first citywide, international edition.

Coursing through theatres, arts venues and outdoor spaces, Transform 17 explores everything from activism, community collaboration, the digital age, gender politics, and the future of Europe.

We’ve joined forces with brilliant local artists, to concoct powerful new works that will be seen by audiences for the first time at the festival. Alongside these world premieres, extraordinary international artists present exciting shows in Leeds for the first time.

Each of our festivals is characterised by courage, collaboration and celebration – and Transform 17 is no different. Come and experience the vivid atmosphere of our Festival Centre, join in on a party, get involved in a project, or simply catch a show or two and reflect on what you’ve seen.

However you choose to – join us and be part of Transform 17.

AMY LETMANCREATIVE DIRECTOR

Our work is guided by the following principles and ideas:

REIMAGINING WHAT THEATRE CAN LOOK LIKE—

INDEPENDENT & ADVENTUROUS SPIRIT OF LEEDS—

SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS & RADICAL NORTH—

CONNECTING TO THE WORLD—

CELEBRATION & FESTIVITIES

FOLLOWING TRANSFORM17 OUR FESTIVALS MOVE TO A BIENNIAL MODEL. TO KEEP UP TO DATE WITH CURRENT PROJECTS –JOIN OUR

MAILING LIST—

TRANSFORMFESTIVAL.ORG

INTRODUCING

WELLNESS—Florentina Holzinger & Vincent Riebeek

WED 19 & THU 20 APRIL7.45PMRILEY THEATRETICKETS:£12.50/£10.00

Europe’s provocative choreographers Holzinger & Riebeek shook up Transform 16 with the UKpremiere of Schönheitsabend (A Beautiful Evening). By popular demand, they return to Leeds to open this year’s festival.

In the radical duo’s first group show, an extraordinary ensemble of performers participate in a surreal training course of fitness, psychotherapy, beauty pageants, sex and yoga; striving to become their own versions of Miss and Mister Universe. Wellness is a dizzying mix of pop-culture, performance art and dance that boldly investigates the body culture of our times.

“They do it differently. They turn the rules upside down...if for only one second of our lives we couldbe as free as they are!”– Zone 02

Warning: Contains nudity, scenes of sexually explicit nature, and strobe lighting.Age guidance: 18+Running time: 75 mins

Produced by CAMPO (Gent), FFT (Düsseldorf), Theater im Pumpen-haus (Münster), Gessnerallee (Zürich), Mousonturm (Frankfurt), SPRING Performing Arts Festival (Utrecht) and Spielart Festival (Munich). Performances at Transform 17 presented by CAMPO and Transform, in collaboration with Northern School ofContemporary Dance. Photo Credit: Phile Deprez

MOTHERLOAD

FRI 21 APRIL6.00PMYORKSHIRE DANCETICKETS:£12.50/£10.00

Mother Load is an uplifting and powerful choreographic work in two parts, reflecting upon relationships between parentand child.

In part one, Performance With Hope, Grace and her 9-year old daughter share the stage, making decisions together; Grace is trying her best to raise a woman in front of you. Part two, Things Stack Up, is a solo performance, using the subject of education to explore notions of play, agency, risk and physicality.

Yorkshire based Grace Surman dallies around the terms performance (art), live art, theatre and choreography; in Mother Load she invites you to question her as an artist, a woman and a mother.

“This tender piece will have parents laughing and crying with recognition” – The Skinny

Age guidance: 14+Running time: 95 mins (includes interval)

Commissioned by Yorkshire Dance Amplified programme and supported by Transform.

THU 20 & FRI 21 APRIL7.00PMSTAGE@LEEDSTICKETS:£12.50/£10.00

We live in a time where old orders are collapsing: from the postcolonial nation states of the Middle East, to the EU and the American election. Through it all, tech savvy and extremist groups rip through twentieth century political certainties.

Amidst this, a generation of young men find themselves burning with resentment; without the money, power and sex they think they deserve. This crisis of masculinity leads them into an online world of fantasy, violence and reality.

Writer and theatre maker Javaad Alipoor spent time in this digital realm, exploring the blurry and complex world of extremists, spies, journalists and fantasists. This bold one-man show weaves together their stories.

“A very special artist, and a very strong voice”– Madani Younis,Bush Theatre

Warning: Contains disturbing imagery.Age guidance: 16+Running time: 1hr

Co-commissioned by HOME, Manchester, Ovalhouse and Transform, supported by National Theatre Studio and stage@Leeds.

THE BELIEVERS ARE BUT BROTHERS—Javaad Alipoor

Photo Credit: Tom Joy

—Grace Surman

THE DARKEST CORNERS—RashDash

This is an outdoor performancein a secret Holbeck location. Please provide contact details to Box Office when booking. You will receive travel options and info in advance of the performance.

Please dress for the weather. You will be provided with headphones to wear duringthe performance.

THU 20 – SAT 22 APRIL9.00PMHOLBECK, SECRET LOCATIONTICKETS: £12.50/£10.00

“It’s dark. A woman walks alone on the edge of a city. The city is Leeds. Or Paris. Or maybe it’s Mexico City. She doesn’t want to walk home with her keys between her fingers, crossing the road when she sees a shadow. She wants to be alone in the night. She wants to dancein the darkest corners.”

Physical theatre company RashDash present a powerful new show confronting violence against women, performed outdoors on the streets of Leeds. Inspired by

the city’s radical, activist history,this cabaret rally features live music, vivid physicality, and storiesof resistance from around the world.

The Darkest Corners is a communal celebration, a visceral reclamation of the city, a fearsome and triumphant outcry into the night.

“RashDash are the punk princesses of late-night theatre”—The Guardian

Trigger Warning: Contains scenes depicting sexual violence. Age guidance: 16+Running time: 75 minsA Transform and RashDash co-production.Commissioned by Transform. Supportedby Leeds Inspired, part of Leeds CityCouncil, Unity Theatre Trust andBig Lottery Awards for All. With support from Opera North Projects and Slung Low’s HUB. In association with West Yorkshire Playhouse.


WED 19 APRIL7.00PM, 9.00PMTHU 20 – SAT 22 APRIL4.00PM, 7.00PM, 9.00PMWEST YORKSHIRE PLAYHOUSETICKETS: £12.50/£10.00

Germany, 2021. Days before the people vote on leaving an estranged European Union, a young PR agent gets hold of top secret information. Its publication would have shocking consequences for Europe as a whole. To leak or not to leak? The audience enacts a political thriller and makes wide-ranging decisions between the conflicting priorities of democracy, transparency, freedom of speech and manipulation.

What would you choose?

Berlin-based machina eX is a group of young media and theatre artists designing immersive experiences somewhere between computer game, theatre and interactive installation. Lessons of Leaking is their latest participatory adventure.

Age guidance: 14+Running time: 75 mins

Lessons of Leaking was produced for EUROPOLY, a European project for theatre and film by the Goethe-Institut in cooperation with Munich Kammerspiele, Onassis Cultural Centre Athens, Sirenos-Vilnius International Festival, Teatro Maria Matos Lisbon and Tiger Dublin Fringe, in co-operation with Allianz Cultural Foundation. The show is a co-production with HAU Hebbel am Ufer, FFT Düsseldorf, Gessnerallee Zürich, ROXY Birsfelden, Südpol Luzern, AUAWIRLEBEN Theaterfestival Bern, supported by Cultural administration of the state of Berlin, Fonds Darstellende Künste, Fachausschuss Tanz & Theater BS/BL, Migros Kulturprozent. Performances at Transform 17 made possible by the Goethe-Institut London and Goethe-Institut Vilnius.

LESSONSOF LEAKING—machina eX

At a moment of uncertainty for the UK and its relationship to the European Union, Transform

17 pauses to reflect on Europe itself and its future. During the festival, works by two forward thinking international companies,machina eX (Germany) and El Conde de

Torrefiel (Spain) explore in different wayswhat the future of Europe could look like.

After each performance at West Yorkshire Playhouse, you are invited to envisage for

yourself what might lie ahead – to question, reflect, and even conjure up ideas for change.

For the final night of Transform 17,we’re hosting Eurotopia, an extravagantart party, where we can come together todance away the uncertainty of the future.

Photo Credit: machina eX

FRI 21 & SAT 22 APRIL7.45PMWEST YORKSHIRE PLAYHOUSETICKETS:£12.50/£10.00

What do the young generation think about Europe today? What anxieties about the future preoccupy them as they go about their lives? El Conde de Torrefiel, one of the most exciting and provocative theatre companies to emerge from Spain in recent years, explore this in their newest work.

Guerrilla is a dark comedy about the awakening of awareness. It presents the confused, contradictory inner universe of a group of people that inhabit the same moment in time, move through the same city, share the collective consciousness of the same continent, and are affected by the same consequences.This epic, visceral performance

features a company of local participants. The action is made up of three distinct parts (a rave, Tai Chi class, and conference) and unfolds in a dystopian future in three different cities. As the crowd dance, talk and listen, their most intimate thoughts are revealed.

Warning: Contains very loud, sustained noise and strobe lighting.Age guidance: 16+Running time: 85 mins

This performance contains surtitles and no dialogue.

Co-produced by Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels), Steirischer Herbst Festival (Gratz), Noorderzon Performing Arts Festival (Groningen). Project co-produced by NXTSTP, with the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union. With the support of Graner, Centre de Creació Barcelona, ICEC - Generalitat de Catalunya, INAEM, Ministerio de Cultura de España. Supported by Institut Ramon Llull. Performances at Transform 17 presented by Transform in collaboration with Gateshead International Festival of Theatre.

GUERRILLA—El Conde de Torrefiel

Photo Credit: Luisa Gutierrez

EUROTOPIA—SAT 22 APRIL10PM – LATEFESTIVAL CENTRE (STUDIO 24) TICKETS:£12.50 (£10 EARLY BIRD)

As the festival draws to a close, Transform and Live Art Bistroinvite you to delve into the worldof Eurotopia, an audiovisual spectacle. Immerse yourself in the fetishised freedoms of dark excesses, and party across the satirical edges of the old world. This is the island we have staked our flag in, and now we must live it. One nation divided in the groove.

Eurotopia is a club nightsuitable for those ages 18+. Follow #Eurotopia forline-up announcements.

Curated by Live Art Bistro for Transform 17. EUROTOPIA is supportedby Studio 24 and Lady Beck.

THU 20 APRIL6.00PMLIVE ART BISTROTICKETS:FREE (ADVANCE BOOKING RECOMMENDED)

Transform is excited to introduce new Leeds based artists Sasha Foyster & Grace Hargreaves. In 2016 they won the Lift Off & Transform Award, which supportsa promising Leeds Beckett graduate company.

Sasha and Grace are interested in making work about what it means to be young, female, working class and living in Yorkshire today, for working men’s clubs and variety settings.

For this intimate work in progress event they will present early material and invite dialogue and feedback.

Age guidance: 14+Running time: 45 mins

Presented by Transform in partnership with Leeds Beckett Performing Arts and Live Art Bistro.

—Selina Thompson Ltd

SAT 22 APRIL2PM & 3.30PMWEST INDIAN CENTRETICKETS: FREE (ADVANCE BOOKING RECOMMENDED)

For the next three years, Selina Thompson is going to be working with teenage girls across two continents – trying to imagine what the world will look like for femmes after the revolution. The head bangers, the style, the freaks of the future. How we will celebrate, communicate and commemorate years from now. The blueprintsfor radical freedom.

When she was a teenager, she thought that Missy Elliott and her afro-futurist-dancing-up-the-walls-fisheye-camera-taking-up-space genius might be the blueprint for her freedom.

A decade later, she’s going tosee what today’s teenagers think. Join us to see what they have uncovered over the last two months. A work in process.

Get your freak on, Fam.

Age guidance: Suitable for all.Running time: 1 hr.

Commissioned by Transform, Eclipse Theatre, Contact and Battersea Arts Centre. Supported by MGC Futures.

—Sasha Foyster & Grace Hargreaves

THE MISSY ELLIOTT PROJECT

Photo Credit: Richard Davenport


TRANSFORM 17 BOX OFFICEWest Yorkshire PlayhousePlayhouse Square, Quarry HillLeeds, LS2 7UP— wyp.org.uk / 0113 213 7700

FESTIVAL CENTRE—STUDIO 24

TICKETS& BOXOFFICE—PACKAGES

All tickets can be purchased from West Yorkshire Playhouse Box Office either in person, online or over the phone. Tickets can be bought from the Playhouse up until 5pm on the day of the performance. Subject to availability, they will then be available to buy on the door of the venue.

A transaction fee of £1.95 will be applied to all phone and internetbookings.

The Festival Centre at Studio 24 on Mabgate is the official meeting point for Transform 17. Designed by creative agency Rabbit Hole, this intimate venue will host DJs, parties and conversations. Open each day of the fes-tival, our pop-up bar and café is the perfect place to kick back and relax.


EXPERIENCE MORE. BOOKMULTIPLE SHOWS TOGETHERAND MAKE SAVINGS.

BOOK 3 SHOWS AND GET 10% OFF—BOOK 4 OR MORE SHOWS ANDGET 20% OFF—OR SAVE OVER £20 ANDSEE EVERYTHING FOR JUST£65.60 (25% SAVING).

OPENING NIGHT PARTY—WED 19 APRIL, 6PMJoin us to cut the ribbon on Trans-form 17 and hear all about what’s happening during the festival.

See calendar for opening times. Events listed here are free – no need to book. Please note that on Sat 22 April, the Festival Centre will host the Transform 17 closing party, Eurotopia (a fee-paying, ticketed event).

CONVERSATIONS—THU 20 APRIL, 5PMYoung People & Artistic Agency(feat Grace Surman & Selina Thompson)

FRI 21 APRIL, 5PMViolence, Masculinity & the Digital Realm (feat Javaad Alipoor)

SAT 22 APRIL, 1PMTheatre, Activism & The Darkest Corners (feat RashDash)

1) FESTIVAL CENTRE(STUDIO 24)23a, 66-70 Mabgate, LS9 7DZ

2) WEST YORKSHIREPLAYHOUSEPlayhouse Square, Quarry Hill, LS2 7UP

3) RILEY THEATRENorthern School of Contemporary Dance, 98 Chapeltown Rd, LS7 4BH

4) STAGE@LEEDSUniversity of Leeds, LS2 9JT

5) YORKSHIRE DANCE3 St Peter’s Square, LS9 8AH

6) LIVE ARTBISTRO1-2 Regent Street, LS2 7QA

7) HOLBECKSecret Location.Follow transformfestival.org for updates.

8) WEST INDIAN CENTRE10 Laycock Place Chapeltown, LS7 2JA

Transform 17 takes place across venues and sites in Leeds, all within 5-25 minutes walking distance ofWest Yorkshire Playhouse and our Festival Centre, Studio 24 (whichare 5 minutes from each other).

The Darkest Corners takes place at a secret Holbeck location. When booking, provide contact details in

order to receive travel optionsand info.

Leeds is easy to get around and buses run regularly. Our recommended taxi service is Amber Cars (taxileeds.co.uk / 0113 2022117). If you’re cycling, there are various places to parkyour bike outside of venues.

All shows and venues are wheel-chair accessible. Please book spaces in advance with box office. Some performances and events are BSL Interpreted – check the show and calendar page for the symbol.

Guerrilla contains surtitles and no dialogue. If you have other access needs you’d like to discuss – please email [email protected] or speak to Box Office.

VENUES

TRAVEL

ACCESS

PLACESTO STAYIf you’re visiting from outside of Leeds and looking for somewhere to stay, we can highly recommend the Art Hostel.

Bunks and rooms are available at a 15% discount rate when you quote TRANSFORM2017 (arthostel.org.uk).

5–10 Mins Walk from Festival Centre




OPENING NIGHT PARTYFestival Centre

LESSONS OF LEAKINGmachina eXWest Yorkshire Playhouse

WELLNESSFlorentina Holzinger & Vincent RiebeekRiley Theatre

FESTIVAL CENTRE – STUDIO 24 OPEN 6PM–MIDNIGHT


CONVERSATION — VIOLENCE, MASCULINITY & THE DIGITAL REALMFestival Centre

MOTHER LOADGrace SurmanYorkshire Dance

THE BELIEVERS ARE BUT BROTHERSJavaad Alipoorstage@leeds

GUERRILLAEl Conde de TorrefielWest Yorkshire Playhouse

THE DARKEST CORNERSRashDashHolbeck



CONVERSATION — YOUNG PEOPLE & ARTISTIC AGENCY Festival Centre

LIFT OFF & TRANSFORM AWARDSasha Foyster & Grace HargreavesLive Art Bistro

THE BELIEVERS ARE BUT BROTHERSJavaad Alipoorstage@leeds

WELLNESSFlorentina Holzinger & Vincent RiebeekRiley Theatre



CONVERSATION — THEATRE, ACTIVISM& THE DARKEST CORNERS Festival Centre

THE MISSY ELLIOTT PROJECTSelina ThompsonWest Indian Centre


GUERRILLAEl Conde de TorrefielWest Yorkshire Playhouse


EUROTOPIALive art BistroFestival Centre

FESTIVAL CENTRE – STUDIO 24 OPEN 1PM–8PM

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WEDNESDAY 19 APRIL

FRIDAY 21 APRIL

THURSDAY 20 APRIL SATURDAY 22 APRIL

FESTIVALSCHEDULE

4.00PM7.00PM9.00PM

TRANSFORM IS A TRADING NAME OF TRANSFORM THEATRE PROJECTS A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE, REGISTERED IN ENGLAND AND WALES NO: 09676458 CHARITY NO: 1162870 © 2015.

MAJOR PARTNERS& FUNDERS:

PARTNERS& FUNDERS:

SUPPORTINGPARTNERS:

TEAMAMY LETMAN Creative DirectorRYAN HOGAN Audiences ProducerLINS WILSON Associate ProducerMOLLY SHARPE Assistant Producer (The Darkest Corners)RAF BOGAN Festival Centre CoordinatorADAM LONG Production & Safety TIM GARBUTT Production & SafetyGRAEME NIXON Production Manager (The Darkest Corners)ANITA MORRIS PressRABBIT HOLE Design & Digital

TRANSFORM 17 IS PRODUCED BY TRANSFORM, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH WEST YORKSHIRE PLAYHOUSE AND CITYWIDE ORGANISATIONS. SUPPORTED USING PUBLIC FUNDING FROM THE NATIONAL LOTTERY THROUGH ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND.

BE PART OF THE TRANSFORM MOVEMENT

Transform 17 is being made possible by a growing movement of artists, producers, community organisers, funders and arts partners who are all contributing to making a citywide, international theatre festival for Leeds happen.

We want to meet and build relationships with like-minded people, who share our passion for bold live experiences that deeply connect with the city of Leeds and have global relevance. Whether

you’re a funder or business interested in supporting the creation of new ideas, part of a creative or community organisation interested in being part of a festival, or an individual looking to volunteer or participate in a project – we’re keen to hear from you. Contact—[email protected]

After Transform 17, planning will begin for the next Transform festival in 2019.



Leeds 2023 A Bid for the European Capital of Culture

+44 (0)113 378 7908 @Leeds_2023 www.Leeds2023.co.uk

Supporting the exceptional, experimental and diverse cultural offer of Leeds with thanks to the generosity of our Leeds 2023 Event Partners, Yorkshire Water and

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APRIL - Transform Festival

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Transcript of APRIL - Transform Festival