In Good Company presents Departure Lounge

A summer festival of fresh  and exciting performance …now in its seventh year!  Locations in and around Derby Theatre Thursday 18 – Saturday 20 July

 

Acclaimed performance  festival back for a seventh year

Departure Lounge is celebrating its 7th anniversary, on this summer from Thursday 18 until Saturday 20 July, a fantastic summer festival of fresh and thrilling theatre with a bumper linen up of shows, Edinburgh previews, works-in-progress, workshops and talks, and a hub for fresh, contemporary, cutting edge and innovative performance. We are committed to supporting and playing host to a range of work from both small and large independent touring companies.

Highlights of the Festival for 2019 includes: Opal Fruits by Holly Beasley-Garrigan, an unreliable solo show about the fetishisation of the feral female, about working-class women and the trouble with 90s nostalgia spliced with stories from four generations of women who came of age on the same council estate; Tokyo Rose by Burnt Lemon Theatre (Winners of the New Diorama and Underbelly Untapped Award 2019), a piece where five female wartime disc jockeys spit piercing verse in a rap-packed musical broadcast; Your Sincerely by Quick Duck Theatre, a piece based on real life correspondences and where storytelling and lipsync cabaret collide in this queer coming-of-age comedy about the complications of 21st century communication and Unfortunate by Fat Rascal (Vulvarine 2018), an untold tale of Disney villain, Octo-Woman and plus size icon, Ursula, the sea witch, a musical parody exploring who the woman is behind the tentacles!

Other Departure Lounge highlights include: the return of Olivier Award nominee Caroline Horton with the premiere of All of Me, a funny, hopeful and unapologetic piece, the show that happens after the curtain call, when the lights have gone down but the mess remains, in association with China Plate, Cambridge Junction and The Yard Theatre; the return of Festival favourites, award-winning Not Too Tame with See How They Run, a brand new show fresh from Latitude festival, a helter skelter piece of gig theatre which takes the audience on a magical mystery ride, a unique and raucous show inspired by The Beatles music; Extraordinary Wall of Silence by Ad Infinitum (the In Good Company mid-career commission), a brand new (work-in-progress) show and an unmissable feast for the senses which combines the company’s signature style of physical storytelling with the beauty of British Sign Language which facilitates an encounter between Deaf and hearing communities to expose the barrier that has stood between them for far too long; Britizenship by Zoo Indigo, a (work-in-progress) multimedia cabaret of national anthems and popular music in Irish, English, Yiddish and German, a contemporary odyssey where the company face their lack of Britishness and search for their European identity from the shores of Brexit-ridden Britain and Motherland by Jo Tyabji in association with Milk Presents, a visceral, full-bodied, dragged up queertastic howl of a show (and it makes no apology for it), a punchy, in-yer-face work-in-progress piece performed through the medium of drag. The Festival also includes Plea Bargain by Jake Bowen, a one-to-one performance based on Jake’s experience of the criminal justice system. Audience members take the role of a solicitor and with limited time, must find the facts and pass judgement. For this year, Departure Lounge also provides a fantastic platform for a collective of young theatre makers to place and present their work as part of the Festival, a great opportunity to showcase work to their peers within the industry – so, included in the line-up this year is Ducks Don’t Have Teeth, Do They? by Derby Theatre Theatre Makers, a show full of unlikely friendships and questions about ageing.

Departure Lounge’s intriguing outdoor performance destination for this year will be hosted by S.H.E.D. Presents with the S.H.E.D. (Social Higher Education Depot), an old garden shed placed in the heart of Derbados that will transform into a mobile arts venue to create an alternative site for artistic practice. Showings and sharings in the S.H.E.D. include: Third Angel’s Inspiration Exchange, a simple story-swapping performance where a personal catalogue of inspirations will be exchanged to create an eclectic, multi-contributor library of ideas and events.

On the Thursday, the opening day of the Festival, MAYK Theatre and In Good Company will host  We Are All (Made of) Stars, an afternoon of conversation about making participatory performance across borders, a practical session that will include learning from MAYK’s recent international touring project, where three participatory performances from Australia, Japan and Canada toured to areas of low engagement across England. Supported by Arts Council England’s Strategic Touring Fund, the event will also include artist provocations and a panel discussion with funders, producers and artists.

On the Friday of the Festival there will be a Represent Queer Artist Showcase, three works-in progress which includes: Quick Duck Theatre and Will Jackson’s Fashion Spies, an interactive show with a fun and comic twist about the world of fashion; Kath by Adam Carver, a solo-theatre performance exploring sexuality, homophobia, family, ageing, dementia and mental health – intersected by shame and Shuv It by Mia Johnson, a piece which explores feminism and relearning, reimagining and reclaiming through sound, music and movement and which aims to bring awareness to the teachings of many black femmes and the importance of their work.

Also on the Friday, we will see the return of the ever-popular panel discussion which, for this year, will focus on  The Arts: A Shifting Landscape. Practitioners, artists and audiences come together for a fascinating and insightful discussion with leaders from a range of inspirational arts organisations in the UK.

Chairing the discussion will be British theatre critic, writer and journalist Lyn Gardner. The panel of provocateurs will include: Sarah Brigham (Chief Executive and Artistic Director, Derby Theatre); Tarek Iskander (new Artistic Director of Battersea Arts Centre) and Charlotte Bennett (joint Artistic Director of Paines Plough). The panel discussion is FREE and more details are to follow.

Ben Anderson (Creative Producer, In Good Company) said: “I can’t wait for this theatrical vacation. Departure Lounge is a festival that is open, international facing with a regional bedrock of work at its heart exploring a total feast of themes from letter writing and ageing, Disney villains, identity and accessibility…all to name just a few.

I’m elated that the Festival is hosting some larger companies with first glimpses of new work such as Fat Rascal with their show Unfortunate and Burnt Lemon’s Tokyo Rose; working with our new partners New Diorama to support more pathways to Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Mark the dates in your diary. Honestly, you really won’t regret it.”
Departure Lounge exists to present theatre of the most radical nature right in the heart of the country; proving that the Midlands is a vibrant place to shape the future of theatre and we look forward to welcoming artists and audiences at the Festival this summer.HOW TO BOOK AND PRICES
For more information and to book, please contact the Box Office on 01332 593939 or online at http://www.derbytheatre.co.uk.PRICES
Earlybird Pass (if booked before 31 May 2019): £60 Friday Day Pass: £35 Saturday Day Pass: £45 Full Festival Pass: £90 Friends Pass: £60 Individual Shows: £9.50 Work in Progress pieces: £5.50 Workshops: £7 REPRESENT Showcase (to see all three performances): £8