A showcase of finalist performance projects by postgraduate students in theatre and performance at Birkbeck, University of London.
Wednesday 28th June
Muffled Barks by Negin Heidari, 5.30pm
A theatrical performance that unearths the silenced voices and suppressed stories of a society in turmoil, where even the barks of dogs are muffled. Through captivating narratives, evocative imagery, and the power of forbidden barks, this production takes us on a rollercoaster of emotions, delving into the heart of oppression, resistance, and the struggle for freedom.
Age guidance 18+ Content warning: violence, animal cruelty, blood and death.
Alice Project – Performance From Underland by Lindsay T Gianuca, 6.30pm
Performance. Philosophy. Poetry. Alice Project presents an investigation into performers’ expressions. Journey. Joy. Jungle. What is a territory of expression? There is fear. To create is exposure, failing, doing again. A foreign female plays with references and passages: life is a passage. Hole. Two performers. The edge is a limit: separation. At the same time, a line of encounters. Border. Belonging. Being. Nature and culture cross the aspects explored in this short show. Performance Lecture: scenes of transits. A place on the planet: underland. Human movement, stories. How many worlds? Plural singularities: past and present. Anthropophagic. Animality. Adventure.
Age guidance: No guidance
Northanger Abbey by Kate Farmer, 7.30pm
An adaptation of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, set in the modern day focusing on the three main female characters Catherine, Isabella and Eleanor. Set over one summer as the girls grapple with feminine ideals set out for them in fiction and the media, relationships and their own identity.
Age guidance: No guidance
Content Warning: swearing
Thursday 29th June
The Last Rhubarb Festival by Ruth Kelner, 5.30pm
Set in West Yorkshire, one family has been farming rhubarb for generations, but when the outside world threatens their way of life, how will this family stay together?
Over one autumn this family grapples with climate change, farming and what home really means.
A rehearsed reading of an excerpt of an intimate family drama.
Age guidance 12+
Content Warning: swearing
The Greatest Play Of All Time by Teddy Stevenson, 6pm
Hades tasks a mortal with writing and performing ‘The Greatest Play Of All Time’ in order to convince him that humanity is worth preserving.
Age guidance 18+
Content Warning: swearing
The Last Eye Contact by Maria Vittoria Albertini Petroni, 6.30pm
The Last Eye Contact is a solo performance that explores the theme of femicide: women intentionally murdered because of gender-related motivations. The play follows the story of Liz, a young woman killed by her ex-boyfriend. The audience will go on a journey from Liz’s and her ex-boyfriend’s first eye contact to their last.
Age guidance 18+
Content Warning: swearing, death, mention of blood, violence, murder, femicide.
My Shadow and Me by Sofia Evans, 7.30pm
The play is a visual representation of what it feels like to mask when neurodivergent. It explores the hidden war inside those neurodivergent, have when maintaining a façade of normality. The play will give the audience an experience of masking and how overwhelming that can be, through shadow work, lighting and sound effects.
Age guidance 12+
Health warning: flashing lights, loud music and noises, overwhelming sensory features
Shadows by Kathleen Harper Hefferon, 8.30pm
Shadows is a solo performance that investigates the connection between the phenomenon of “shadowcasting” and trauma healing through art. Ever get dressed up and go watch people perform Rocky Horror in a cinema? You’ve seen a shadowcast. Ever watch your favourite film and quote along with it? That’s the seed of shadowcast. This performance explores how the mimicry of moving images becomes a conduit for us to become more of ourselves.
Age guidance 12+ (at parents' discretion) Content warning: Mentions of domestic violence and parental abuse; homophobia; fatphobia; gore - descriptions of an autopsy (from Jaws). Flashing light/strobe.
“Such a crucial part of the UK theatre ecology… Developing artists and audiences”
The Guardian
