London’s biannual festival of international performance, LIFT, a seven-week celebration of theatre, starts today.
The festival runs across the city, with performances taking place at some of London’s top cultural venues in June and July. Featuring seven premieres and works from artists from around the world, including Canada, Taiwan, Ivory Coast and Iran, this year’s programme promises a range of thought-provoking, challenging and adventurous works.
“LIFT 2024 will take you on journeys that are deep and personal,” said Kris Nelson, the festival’s artistic director.
“We’re making this festival during a complex global moment; amidst a climate crisis, a cost-of-living crisis and war and turmoil in a number of global regions. LIFT’s aim is, and always has been, to champion international perspectives, to amplify lesser-heard voices, and to be a place that can hold diverse experiences and points of view.
“It’s a festival full of divergent perspectives, difference and complex cultural conversations.”
Here is our selection of the events not to miss.
The Land Acknowledgement or As You Like It
Described as a “word-of-mouth hit” and as “Canada’s answer to Chris Rock? Or Hannah Gadsby”, The Land Acknowledgement is Shakespeare’s As You Like It, wholly reimagined by Lakota playwright Cliff Cardinal.
Southbank CentrePurcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall, June 5-7, 8pm, June 8-9, 3pm
Democracy From Where I Stand
Aditi Mittal as part of Democracy From Where I Stand, LIFT 2024
Courtesy of the Financial Times
Created in collaboration with the Financial Times, Democracy From Where I Stand is an evening of performances and discussions exploring women and democracy in the modern day. The line-up includes a film from Margaret Atwood, visual art from artist Osheen Siva, a performance from comedian Aditi Mittal, music from female and non-binary collective Baque Luar and much more.
The Dutch Church, City of London, June 8
Bat Night Market
Courtesy of the artists and LIFT
UK artist Robert Charles Johnson and Taiwanese-Dutch artist Kuang-Yi Ku explore bats in all their glory, through a story that starts at a futuristic Taiwanese night market. Weaving together art, performance and science, they ask questions about the global ecosystem and conservation.
Science Gallery London, June 11-15
The Rare Man by Nadia Beugré
©Ruben-Pioline
Choreographer Nadia Beugré, a founding member of the innovative, all-female dance ensemble TchéTché, presents a think piece on gender and race. The faces of her five dancers are always turned away from the audience, so that audiences are drawn to the physicality of the performers, some of whom are naked.
Southbank Centre: Queen Elizabeth Hall, June 12-13. Post show talk on June 12
The Trials and Passions of Unfamous Women
This world premiere, which has been created by Brazilian theatremakers Janaina Leite and Lara Duarte alongside Clean Break, a theatre company whose aim is to keep the subject of women in the criminal justice system on the cultural radar, asks questions about justice, power and the passions of women.
Brixton House, June 14-22
Berchae: Prelude to a Purge
Berries
© Laurent Philippe
Described as “seductive” and “raucous”, Bacchae is an energetic, delirious carnival of a show that asks questions about the human psyche through Brazilian music, clown antics and dance. The work of Lisbon-based choreographer Marlene Monteiro Freitas, it reimagines Euripides’s The Bacchae.
Sadler’s Wells Theatre, June 18-19
Chiara Bersani
Photo by Rebecca Lena
In L’Animale, influential Italian performer Chiara Bersani revisits and updates The Dying Swan, a short ballet choreographed by Russian choreographer Mikhail Fokine for famous ballet dancer Anna Pavlova in 1905. Set against the backdrop of The Old Bailey, the piece works as a meditation on loneliness and morality.
Old Bailey, City of London, June 22-23
ECHO (Every Cold-Hearted Oxygen)
ECHO Poster
Courtesy of the artists and LIFT
Written by Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour (White Rabbit Red Rabbit), and directed by Italian-Palestinian theatre-maker Omar Elerian (Two Palestinians Go Dogging), ECHO (Every Cold-Hearted Oxygen) continues Soleimanpour’s celebrated experiment, where a new performer takes to the stage every show. They don’t know what’s going to happen next, and are instead led by the script – which in this case asks questions about climate change and immigration. The set up leads to some hilarious, surprising results.
The Royal Court Theatre, July 13-27. Post show talk 18 July.
London’s International Festival of Theatre, June 5 to July 27, 2024; liftfestival.com