GABBER, GARBAGE & GOBLINCORE, CHILDREN READING PALMS, TEENAGERS SINGING SONGS OF LOVE & SEX, SCARECROWS FROM FRANCE, WOLVES FROM FINLAND, AN OPERA SINGING COW FROM ZURICH, A GIANT LATEX PIG FROM TOKYO & THE MAKING OF PINOCCHIO! JUST SOME OF THE DELIGHTS OF THE 25th ANNIVERSARY FIERCE FESTIVAL
NINE UK PREMIERES FROM INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED VOICES IN THEATRE, DANCE & PERFORMANCE ART INCLUDING PHILIPPE QUESNE (FRANCE), ALICE RIPPOLL (BRAZIL), CRAZINIST ARTIST (GHANA), CLARA FUREY (CANADA), SAVAGE K’LUB (NEW ZEALAND), SAEBORG (JAPAN) AND A FOCUS ON WORK MADE IN FLANDERS INCLUDING LISA VEREERTBRUGGHEN (GHENT) AND FRANCESCA GRILLI (BRUSSELS)
THE 2022 PROGRAMME FEATURES THREE WORLD PREMIERES FROM LEADING ARTISTS OF TOMORROW, EXPLORING CHILDHOOD TRAUMA, THE BOUNDARIES BETWEEN OUR BODIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT AND DONNA HARRAYWAY’S THEORY OF THE CHTHULUCENE. THE WIDER PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS INCREDIBLE WORK BY TRANS ARTISTS AS WELL AS CENTRING A NUMBER OF NON-HUMAN PERSPECTIVES
THE BIGGEST INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME EVER INCLUDES 50 EVENTS AND ARTISTS FROM 16 COUNTRIES ON SIX CONTINENTS
THE FESTIVAL MARKS 25 YEARS OF CELEBRATING OUTLANDISH, ALTERNATIVE, OUTSIDER VOICES THROUGH INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE, PARTIES AND POP IN BIRMINGHAM AND THE WEST MIDLANDS
The 25th anniversary festival will stage incredible works in unusual places. Fierce 2022 will explore themes including First Nations politics, non-human perspectives, rituals of cleaning and healing and gender identity. Through a line-up of joyful, compelling and subversive World and UK Premieres, the festival will highlight new performance practice from around the world, with UK debut performances by many acclaimed international artists as well as unveiling a number of very special homegrown Fierce commissions. The programme brings together a diverse range of artists and voices from around the world, united by their radical, insightful and political approaches to creating art.
The announcement of the 25th anniversary Festival programme comes in one of the most ambitious years yet for Fierce, having produced two major projects at Birmingham Festival 2022 this summer. Key To The City reached over 50,000 people and gave citizens new encounters across their city and the Healing Gardens of Bab brought queer artists from all over the Commonwealth to the West Midlands to interrogate thier relationships with the British Empire during the Commonwealth Games.
Artistic Director of Fierce Aaron Wright says: “The enfant terrible of the British Festival scene may well be coming of age, but we’re thoroughly refusing to grow up! It’s already been a huge 25th anniversary year for Fierce, but we still have our biggest programme to come. Postponed from 2021, this programme has been three years in the making and represents some of the most exciting performance being made in the world today. We can’t wait to bring this world class programme to audiences across the West Midlands.”
PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:
- ART MEETS LIFE IN A FOREST OF REAL AND FAKE WOOD AS ARTISTS AND LOVERS ROSANA CADE AND IVOR MACASKILL’S AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL EXPERIENCE OF GENDER TRANSITION MEETS THE MAGICAL STORY OF A LITTLE PUPPET WHO WANTS TO BE A ‘REAL BOY’ IN THE MAKING OF PINOCCHIO, DIRECT FROM IT’S HUGE SUCCESS AT LONDON INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF THEATRE
- FROM THE FAVELAS OF BRAZIL, CHOREOGRAPHER ALICE RIPOLL & CIA REC USE BUCKETS, WATER AND SOAP ON STAGE IN THE UK PREMIERE OF LAVAGEM EXPLORING THE ACTION OF CLEANING AS A PERFORMATIVE AND POLITICAL GESTURE. PRESENTED IN COLLABORATION WITH GHENT BASED AGENCY ART HAPPENS, IT FORMS PART OF A FLANDERS FOCUS SHOWING WORK CREATED IN THE DUTCH SPEAKING REGION OF BELGIUM, ALSO FEATURING PERFORMANCE BY LISA VEREERTBRUGGHEN (GHENT) & FRANCESCA GRILLI (BRUSSELS)
- WORLD-RENOWNED FRENCH DIRECTOR PHILIPPE QUESNE CREATES AN ABSURDLY CHARMING UNIVERSE IN THE UK PREMIERE OF HIS POST-APOCALYPTIC FARM FATALE WHERE FIVE SCARECROWS, WHO HAVING LOST THEIR ORIGINAL JOBS DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE, COME TOGETHER IN A COMMUNE
- TRANSGRESSIVE DRAG FROG OOZING GLOOP BRINGS HER FAE-LIKE, GENDER-NON-CONFORMING, NEURODIVERGENT DRAG ARTIST FRIENDS TO FIERCE FOR THE WORLD PREMIERE OF TENTACULAR SPECTACULAR – A MULTI-SENSORY, PSYCHOSEXUAL INSTALLATION OF SWAMPY PERFORMANCES WITH SET DESIGN BY JENKIN VAN ZYL. TENTACULAR SPECTACULAR IS A FIERCE FURTHER: JERWOOD COMMISSION.
- FIERCE CELEBRATE THE END OF THEIR QUARTER CENTURY FESTIVAL WITH CLUB FIERCE: THE HO DOWN, A STRANGE BARN DANCE COUNTRY FETE FEATURING ICONIC JAPANESE ARTIST SAEBORG WHO PRESENTS PIG PEN WHERE A TRUCK-SIZED INFLATABLE LATEX PIG BIRTHS HUMANOID PIGLETS
- BIRMINGHAM ARTIST DEMI NANDHRA PRESENTS THE WORLD PREMIERE OF THE TRAUMA SHOW. THE SHOW IS INSPIRED BY DEMI’S JOURNEY TO HEAL FROM TRAUMA AND EXPLORES THE IMPACTS OF CHILDHOOD, ‘THERAPISE’ CULTURE AND HOW TIKTOK COULD POSSIBLY HEAL US ALL.
- A TRIO OF THOUGHTFUL & PLAYFUL WORKS FROM SCANDINAVIA INCLUDING THE CANDID AND JOYOUS TEENAGE SONGBOOK OF LOVE & SEX FROM ICELAND, WOLF SAFARI FROM FINLAND WHERE AUDIENCES LEARN THE BEHAVIOURAL TRAITS OF WOLVES, AND RADIO III AN INDIGNEOUS FUTURISTIC CONCERT PRODUCED BY MDT, SWEDEN
FIERCE FESTIVAL 25 TAKES PLACE 11-16 OCTOBER 2022 ACROSS BIRMINGHAM AND THE WEST MIDLANDS WITH TICKETS ON SALE TODAY. BOOK NOW!