World Premiere

Sheila Ghelani (Hathern)

Softly/Tenderly

Thursday 17 October 2024Sunday 20 October 2024

Belmont Row
Birmingham, B4 7RQ United Kingdom
+ Google Map

Presented with performance, possession + automation and Midland Arts Centre.

45 minutes | £15/13

Softly/Tenderly considers the history of gun-making within Birmingham which is linked to colonialism, slavery, and violence.

A shattered magnifying glass enlarges words from the page of a book including ‘gunmaking skill’ and ‘break of war’. You can also see parts of a silver chain.

Sheila Ghelani

A shattered magnifying glass enlarges words from the page of a book including ‘Bromwich’, ‘Dudderston’, ‘gunmaking skill’ and ‘break of war’. A silver tool is adjusting a silver chain which lays on top of the magnifying glass.

Sheila Ghelani

A shattered magnifying glass enlarges words from the page of a book including ‘Birmingham’. A silver chain lays on top of the magnifying glass.

Sheila Ghelani

A magnifying glass highlights a section of a book, some of the words are obscured by a silver chain, but we can clearly read ‘gun masters’ and later ‘Birmingham’.

Sheila Ghelani

BUY TICKETS HERE

Softly/Tenderly is a participatory art-work exploring the complicated history of gun-making within Birmingham, but, as the name suggests, does so with care.

Hosted in small groups, those that experience the work get to play a part in the creation and manufacturing of a small precious metal object that they then get to keep. A gift or totem to take away, acting (perhaps) as a gentle reminder of some of the better things industrious hands can get up to – many people making together being a nod towards some of Birmingham’s more celebrated workshop industries, such as jewellery and toys.

For those able to engage with the heavier aspects of history, a piece of print accompanies the work illuminating Birmingham’s role in its lesser talked about trade.

Attentive, pleasurable, gentle and bespoke, Softly/Tenderly is – with intention – the very opposite of everything weapons stand for and do.

Credits

Softly/Tenderly is supported by Arts Council England and commissioned by Fierce and performance, possession + automation, a three-year project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)

Details

Softly/Tenderly runs every hour from 12 pm to 6 pm from Thursday 17 October to Saturday 19 October and 1 pm to 4 pm on Sunday 20 October. The performance lasts 45 minutes.

Access

This work will involve an invitation to make an item out of metal. This will be managed in a way that is safe for people. Audiences may attend and not make the item, and still enjoy the piece.

This show is currently being made. Please check back closer to the performance date for further access information.

       

 

Fierce Says

Gun proofing is a reality of life in Birmingham; every so often, you can hear them firing test ammunition in Digbeth. Softly/Tenderly intervenes in that psychic space, with the possibility of shifting the way we move through the city. Plus, a new work by Sheila Ghelani is always worthy of celebration and notice.

Details

Thursday 17 October 2024Sunday 20 October 2024

STEAMhouse

World Premiere

Oozing Gloop (Berlin/Norwich)

Tentacular Spectacular

Thursday 13 October 2022Friday 14 October 2022

77A Upper Trinity Street, Digbeth
Birmingham, B9 4EG United Kingdom
+ Google Map

Commissioned by Fierce Festival, Battersea Arts Centre & Kampnagel with support from Take Me Somewhere. Produced by Artsadmin. Funded by Arts Council England and British Council International Collaboration Grants.
Included in our tiered discount offer.

World Premiere!

90 mins £15/13

• There is a short section using strobe lighting
• There is use of dry ice, haze and smoke grenades
• There is use of loud music
• There are no moments of complete darkness
• Contains partial nudity
• There is a section of around 10 minutes that depicts femme body mutilation and birth trauma

Glitchy flyer image with Gloop made into an android with pasted body parts from different images.

Oozing Gloop and Esben Holk

Slide into a multi-sensory, psychosexual swamp inhabited by transgressive drag frog Oozing Gloop and some of her many fae-like friends.

Is it just me, or has the world totally lost its mind? As our climate collapses into a pre-humanity, primordial sludge, come bolthole into the butt holes of the sharpest savants around and see what these gender-non-conforming, neurodivergent drag artists have to offer.

Be amazed, appalled and enthralled as together we wander through this installation of performances and cursed objects from a new anthropomorphic age… it’s frog-memes, it’s goblins, it’s fashion baby! And all underground critters are welcome.

Featuring Olympia Bukkakis, Shrek666, Bonnie Bakeneko with set design by Jenkin Van Zyl. Wow!

 

Access and content information to help you decide if Tentacular Spectacular is for you.

***Please note that this show will be a dry (alcohol-free) space***

 

 

Credits

Created by Oozing Gloop

 

Core Artist: Bonnie Bakeneko

Core Artist: Olympia Bukkakis

Core Artist: Shrek666

Guest Artist for Fierce: China

 

Production Manager: Joe French

Technical Stage Manager: Meg Hodgson

 

Set Designer: Jenkin Van Zyl

Sound Designer: Nicol Parkinson

Lighting Designer: Ali Armstrong

 

Lead Artist Assistant: Becky Plotnek

Lead Artist Access Assistant (Germany): Sarah Binz

Artist Liaison: Lacey McFadyen

 

Meme Artist: Esben Holk

Filmmakers: Alex and Liane

 

Produced by Artsadmin

 

Co-commissioned by Fierce, Battersea Arts Centre, Kampnagel and Take Me Somewhere

Supported with public funding from an Arts Council England’s Project Grant and part of the British Council’s International Collaboration Programme

 

*THIS SHOW IS INCLUDED IN OUR TIERED DISCOUNT OFFER*

New for this year we’re offering a tiered discount on bookings for multiple shows, giving you savings whether you’re planning to attend just a handful or all of them. The more tickets you buy, the more you save.

Buy tickets for 6 shows =10% off
Buy tickets for 9 shows = 15% off
Buy tickets for 12 shows = 20% off

Please note that this discount is only applicable to full-priced tickets, and only on certain shows.

Please see each individual event page to see whether that show is included in the offer.

Please note that our ticket purchasing is administered by Midlands Arts Centre. If you are an existing customer of Midlands Arts Centre, please use your account login details to purchase Fierce Festival tickets on this website.

Fierce Says

We love Oozing Gloop, and after there were queues out of the door to catch The Gloop Show at Fierce 2019, it seems you lot do too. Tentacular Spectacular is a late night performance installation featuring contributions from some of the boggiest trans drag artists around, with incredible inflatables by Jenkyn Van Zyl. The fact Fierce has been able to commission this work, at this scale, shows that not everything in the world is going wrong :)

Details

Thursday 13 October 2022, 10.30pmFriday 14 October 2022, 12.00am

7SVN, 77A Upper Trinity Street

Friday 14 October 2022, 10.30pmSaturday 15 October 2022, 12.00am

7SVN, 77A Upper Trinity Street

World Premiere

Freddie Wulf (Bristol/Berlin)

we are all made of stars

Friday 14 October 2022Saturday 15 October 2022

Midlands Arts Centre, Cannon Hill Park
Birmingham, B12 9QH United Kingdom
+ Google Map

With a live sound score by Alicia Jane Turner.
World Premiere. Commissioned by Fierce and Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (ACCA). Supported by FABRIC. Funded by Arts Council England and Help Musicians.
Included in our tiered discount offer

50 mins £13/11

- loud and affective sound
- Nudity including close up views of the body
- Mild sexual content
- UV lighting
- Near total darkness
- Moving/flickering video images
- 18+

Close up blurred image of a pink flower with a blue background
close up image of just a pair of lips. The person has a piercing on their cupids bow and the lips are submerged slightly in water.

A journey through the body as a living landscape, an ecosystem, constantly in flux

Using a borescope camera Freddie Wulf explores the close-up textures of body, water, and plant, creating a journey through a cosmic landscape.

passing by hairs erupting, droplets on the tiny leaves of moss, lips and throat like an underwater cave

Performed in a bathtub, and inspired by philosophies of vital materialism, the show addresses themes of wellbeing, embodiment, and self perception.

 

Pre-Show Access Orientation

For this show we are offering a pre-show access orientation session on Saturday 15 October. This session, is for any audience members who would benefit from having time to familiarise themselves with the theatre space, see the set pieces, and get a sample of some of the sounds in the show.

The space is open for self-guided orientation; members of the team will be available to answer any questions you have, or support you in the space.

The sessions last for 30 minutes from 8pm. There is no need to book separately, just show your ticket.

 

Freddie Wulf is a trans masculine artist making visceral & visual performance. He is white British, dyspraxic & Mad. His work is sex positive & draws from kink methodologies.

Lead Artist: Freddie Wulf
Producer: Michael Kitchin
Composition & Live Music: Alicia Jane Turner
Lighting Designer: Joshie Harriette
Production Manager: Anna Smith
Movement Direction: Ania Varez
Outside Eye/Dramaturgy: An*dre Neely, Emma Frankland, Tammy Reynolds, Piper Piper
Prop Design: Ginger Johnson
Prop Consultant: Tom Cassani
Intimacy Consultant: Bishop Black
Access Support Worker: Celia Morris


Supported using public funding by Arts Council England and Help Musicians.

                 


*THIS SHOW IS INCLUDED IN OUR TIERED DISCOUNT OFFER*

New for this year we’re offering a tiered discount on bookings for multiple shows, giving you savings whether you’re planning to attend just a handful or all of them. The more tickets you buy, the more you save.

Buy tickets for 6 shows =10% off
Buy tickets for 9 shows = 15% off
Buy tickets for 12 shows = 20% off

Please note that this discount is only applicable to full-priced tickets, and only on certain shows. Please see each individual event page to see whether that show is included in the offer.

Please note that our ticket purchasing is administered by Midlands Arts Centre. If you are an existing customer of Midlands Arts Centre, please use your account login details to purchase Fierce Festival tickets on this website.

Fierce Says

Freddie has been developing this new show with Fierce for a few years through our Fierce Further commissioning programme. Come see what we've been cooking up. It's beautiful!!
This is a highly visual, and intriguing show performed in a bath tub. Microscopic cameras create illusions (or reveal truths?) that allow us to see the body as a landscape: not just in the universe, but part of it. Expect to cross mountains and oceans, from toes to nose.

Details

Friday 14 October 2022

8.45pm

Midlands Arts Centre, Foyle Studio

Saturday 15 October 2022

8.45pm

Midlands Arts Centre, Foyle Studio

World Premiere

Oozing Gloop (Berlin/Norwich)

Tentacular Spectacular

Thursday 13 October 2022Friday 14 October 2022

77A Upper Trinity Street, Digbeth
Birmingham, B9 4EG United Kingdom
+ Google Map

Commissioned by Fierce Festival, Battersea Arts Centre & Kampnagel with support from Take Me Somewhere. Produced by Artsadmin. Funded by Arts Council England and British Council International Collaboration Grants.
Included in our tiered discount offer.

World Premiere!

90 mins £15/13

• There is a short section using strobe lighting
• There is use of dry ice, haze and smoke grenades
• There is use of loud music
• There are no moments of complete darkness
• Contains partial nudity
• There is a section of around 10 minutes that depicts femme body mutilation and birth trauma

Glitchy flyer image with Gloop made into an android with pasted body parts from different images.

Oozing Gloop and Esben Holk

Slide into a multi-sensory, psychosexual swamp inhabited by transgressive drag frog Oozing Gloop and some of her many fae-like friends.

Is it just me, or has the world totally lost its mind? As our climate collapses into a pre-humanity, primordial sludge, come bolthole into the butt holes of the sharpest savants around and see what these gender-non-conforming, neurodivergent drag artists have to offer.

Be amazed, appalled and enthralled as together we wander through this installation of performances and cursed objects from a new anthropomorphic age… it’s frog-memes, it’s goblins, it’s fashion baby! And all underground critters are welcome.

Featuring Olympia Bukkakis, Shrek666, Bonnie Bakeneko with set design by Jenkin Van Zyl. Wow!

 

Access and content information to help you decide if Tentacular Spectacular is for you.

***Please note that this show will be a dry (alcohol-free) space***

 

 

Credits

Created by Oozing Gloop

 

Core Artist: Bonnie Bakeneko

Core Artist: Olympia Bukkakis

Core Artist: Shrek666

Guest Artist for Fierce: China

 

Production Manager: Joe French

Technical Stage Manager: Meg Hodgson

 

Set Designer: Jenkin Van Zyl

Sound Designer: Nicol Parkinson

Lighting Designer: Ali Armstrong

 

Lead Artist Assistant: Becky Plotnek

Lead Artist Access Assistant (Germany): Sarah Binz

Artist Liaison: Lacey McFadyen

 

Meme Artist: Esben Holk

Filmmakers: Alex and Liane

 

Produced by Artsadmin

 

Co-commissioned by Fierce, Battersea Arts Centre, Kampnagel and Take Me Somewhere

Supported with public funding from an Arts Council England’s Project Grant and part of the British Council’s International Collaboration Programme

 

*THIS SHOW IS INCLUDED IN OUR TIERED DISCOUNT OFFER*

New for this year we’re offering a tiered discount on bookings for multiple shows, giving you savings whether you’re planning to attend just a handful or all of them. The more tickets you buy, the more you save.

Buy tickets for 6 shows =10% off
Buy tickets for 9 shows = 15% off
Buy tickets for 12 shows = 20% off

Please note that this discount is only applicable to full-priced tickets, and only on certain shows.

Please see each individual event page to see whether that show is included in the offer.

Please note that our ticket purchasing is administered by Midlands Arts Centre. If you are an existing customer of Midlands Arts Centre, please use your account login details to purchase Fierce Festival tickets on this website.

Fierce Says

We love Oozing Gloop, and after there were queues out of the door to catch The Gloop Show at Fierce 2019, it seems you lot do too. Tentacular Spectacular is a late night performance installation featuring contributions from some of the boggiest trans drag artists around, with incredible inflatables by Jenkyn Van Zyl. The fact Fierce has been able to commission this work, at this scale, shows that not everything in the world is going wrong :)

Details

Thursday 13 October 2022, 10.30pmFriday 14 October 2022, 12.00am

7SVN, 77A Upper Trinity Street

Friday 14 October 2022, 10.30pmSaturday 15 October 2022, 12.00am

7SVN, 77A Upper Trinity Street

World Premiere

Lucy McCormick (London)

Life: Live!

Saturday 19 October 2019, 10.00pm

Quantum Events Centre, The Works, 77A Upper Trinity Street
Birmingham, B9 4EG United Kingdom
+ Google Map

(With free entry to Club Fierce after) Standing only (chairs available for those with access needs). Co-Commissioned by Fierce, Teatro do Bairro Alto and Cambridge Junction with support from Alkantara and Tramway and funding from Arts Council England.

Lucy McCormick

Credit Holly Revell

Credit: Claire Haigh

Credit: Claire Haigh

Credit: Claire Haigh

Credit: Claire Haigh

Credit: Claire Haigh

Life: Live! is a subversive, immersive, new theatre work imagined by nu-pop sensation Lucy McCormick, and her electrotrash Girl Squad.   A new Fierce commission, the work will subsequently tour the UK with stops in Brighton Festival, Battersea Arts Centre and many more to be announced.

Featuring shonky-spectacular, stadium-chic live visuals created with artist Morven Mulgrew, and an album of original music, Life:Live! straddles stardom, self care and redemption in a hilarious, crumbling, musical extravaganza.

Ticket includes free entry to Club Fierce party afterwards.

 

Created by Lucy McCormick, Performed by Lucy McCormick, Morven Mulgrew, Samir Kennedy & Lennie  Music by Lucy McCormick, Joe Reeves, Ted Rogers & Samir Kennedy, Set & Costume Morven Mulgrew, Music Producer Joe Reeves, Project Producer Karl Taylor

‘Lucy McCormick has the moves of Beyoncé, the lungs of Christina Aguilera and the morals of a punk iconoclast... As a comedian she is fearless. As a performer she is reckless... She is one of the most extraordinary and extreme performers around’

– The Scotsman

Fierce Says

SHE’S BACK! Our favourite UK performer! After the outrageous ‘Triple Threat’ that we presented with SHOUT Festival in 2018, we can’t wait to see this new Fierce commissioned show. A new theatre show, with live original music, this is the perfect Saturday night out.

Details

Saturday 19 October 2019

10.00pm

Quantum Events Centre

£14 – £11

Tickets not on sale

World Premiere

Gillie Kleiman & Greg Wohead (Newcastle / London)

Familiar

Thursday 17 October 2019Saturday 19 October 2019

Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Broad St
Birmingham, B1 2EP United Kingdom
+ Google Map

Commissioned by Fierce and Dance City. Presented in partnership with Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Supported by ARC Stockton, Wainsgate Chapel, Shoreditch Town Hall, Northern Stage and Roehampton University.

Gillie Kleiman & Greg Wohead

Familiar is a double bill of new theatre shows on significant otherness. One authored by Kleiman and performed by Wohead, the other authored by Wohead and performed by Kleiman, the two are twisted together with story, song and spit.

Springboarding from a question of companionship, Kleiman and Wohead reach for something mysterious: a shaggy dog story danced by Twin Peaks’ legendary Log Lady, speaking from the beyond to enable the pair to become others of significance then and there in the theatre.

This new Fierce commission will tour UK theatres in 2020.

Design – Tim Spooner
Producer – Beckie Darlington

Fierce Says

Gillie and Greg are two of the most exciting young makers in the UK, so when they told us they wanted to make solos for each other we jumped at the chance. Expect a beautiful and quirky design by brilliant artist Tim Spooner too.

Details

Thursday 17 October 2019

7.00pm

Birmingham Repertory Theatre, The DOOR

£12 – £10

Tickets not on sale

Friday 18 October 2019

7.00pm

Birmingham Repertory Theatre, The DOOR

£12 – £10

Tickets not on sale

Saturday 19 October 2019

5.00pm

Birmingham Repertory Theatre, The DOOR

£12 – £10

Sold out!

World Premiere

Gillie Kleiman & Greg Wohead (Newcastle / London)

Familiar

Thursday 17 October 2019Saturday 19 October 2019

Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Broad St
Birmingham, B1 2EP United Kingdom
+ Google Map

Commissioned by Fierce and Dance City. Presented in partnership with Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Supported by ARC Stockton, Wainsgate Chapel, Shoreditch Town Hall, Northern Stage and Roehampton University.

Gillie Kleiman & Greg Wohead

Familiar is a double bill of new theatre shows on significant otherness. One authored by Kleiman and performed by Wohead, the other authored by Wohead and performed by Kleiman, the two are twisted together with story, song and spit.

Springboarding from a question of companionship, Kleiman and Wohead reach for something mysterious: a shaggy dog story danced by Twin Peaks’ legendary Log Lady, speaking from the beyond to enable the pair to become others of significance then and there in the theatre.

This new Fierce commission will tour UK theatres in 2020.

Design – Tim Spooner
Producer – Beckie Darlington

Fierce Says

Gillie and Greg are two of the most exciting young makers in the UK, so when they told us they wanted to make solos for each other we jumped at the chance. Expect a beautiful and quirky design by brilliant artist Tim Spooner too.

Details

Thursday 17 October 2019

7.00pm

Birmingham Repertory Theatre, The DOOR

£12 – £10

Tickets not on sale

Friday 18 October 2019

7.00pm

Birmingham Repertory Theatre, The DOOR

£12 – £10

Tickets not on sale

Saturday 19 October 2019

5.00pm

Birmingham Repertory Theatre, The DOOR

£12 – £10

Sold out!

World Premiere

Gillie Kleiman & Greg Wohead (Newcastle / London)

Familiar

Thursday 17 October 2019Saturday 19 October 2019

Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Broad St
Birmingham, B1 2EP United Kingdom
+ Google Map

Commissioned by Fierce and Dance City. Presented in partnership with Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Supported by ARC Stockton, Wainsgate Chapel, Shoreditch Town Hall, Northern Stage and Roehampton University.

Gillie Kleiman & Greg Wohead

Familiar is a double bill of new theatre shows on significant otherness. One authored by Kleiman and performed by Wohead, the other authored by Wohead and performed by Kleiman, the two are twisted together with story, song and spit.

Springboarding from a question of companionship, Kleiman and Wohead reach for something mysterious: a shaggy dog story danced by Twin Peaks’ legendary Log Lady, speaking from the beyond to enable the pair to become others of significance then and there in the theatre.

This new Fierce commission will tour UK theatres in 2020.

Design – Tim Spooner
Producer – Beckie Darlington

Fierce Says

Gillie and Greg are two of the most exciting young makers in the UK, so when they told us they wanted to make solos for each other we jumped at the chance. Expect a beautiful and quirky design by brilliant artist Tim Spooner too.

Details

Thursday 17 October 2019

7.00pm

Birmingham Repertory Theatre, The DOOR

£12 – £10

Tickets not on sale

Friday 18 October 2019

7.00pm

Birmingham Repertory Theatre, The DOOR

£12 – £10

Tickets not on sale

Saturday 19 October 2019

5.00pm

Birmingham Repertory Theatre, The DOOR

£12 – £10

Sold out!

World Premiere

Gillie Kleiman & Greg Wohead (Newcastle / London)

Familiar

Thursday 17 October 2019Saturday 19 October 2019

Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Broad St
Birmingham, B1 2EP United Kingdom
+ Google Map

Commissioned by Fierce and Dance City. Presented in partnership with Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Supported by ARC Stockton, Wainsgate Chapel, Shoreditch Town Hall, Northern Stage and Roehampton University.

Gillie Kleiman & Greg Wohead

Familiar is a double bill of new theatre shows on significant otherness. One authored by Kleiman and performed by Wohead, the other authored by Wohead and performed by Kleiman, the two are twisted together with story, song and spit.

Springboarding from a question of companionship, Kleiman and Wohead reach for something mysterious: a shaggy dog story danced by Twin Peaks’ legendary Log Lady, speaking from the beyond to enable the pair to become others of significance then and there in the theatre.

This new Fierce commission will tour UK theatres in 2020.

Design – Tim Spooner
Producer – Beckie Darlington

Fierce Says

Gillie and Greg are two of the most exciting young makers in the UK, so when they told us they wanted to make solos for each other we jumped at the chance. Expect a beautiful and quirky design by brilliant artist Tim Spooner too.

Details

Thursday 17 October 2019

7.00pm

Birmingham Repertory Theatre, The DOOR

£12 – £10

Tickets not on sale

Friday 18 October 2019

7.00pm

Birmingham Repertory Theatre, The DOOR

£12 – £10

Tickets not on sale

Saturday 19 October 2019

5.00pm

Birmingham Repertory Theatre, The DOOR

£12 – £10

Sold out!