Ladyfest Leeds performance line-up - cabaret, samurai swords,
clowning, comedy, dance, theatre, spoken word and more
=B7 Over 25 performance events as part of over 100 events taking place
across Leeds April 10th -15th
Celebrating women from all walks of life and exciting new creative
talent, Ladyfest Leeds (www.ladyfestleeds.co.uk) is the festival which
promotes gender equality; featuring over 25 dance, comedy, cabaret,
theatre and spoken word performance events from April 10th-15th.
It's the festival that Beth Ditto of The Gossip (voted the coolest
person in rock by The NME) approves of, saying, "If you're smart you
should go sup****t it, be involved in it, so go, buy a ticket, go to
the workshops and learn more."
Performance events take place primarily at The Carriageworks (3
Millennium Square, Leeds LS2 3AD) as well as on various streets and
other locations around Leeds. There is just not enough room to mention
them all here, so here are some highlights - full details available at
http://www.ladyfestleeds.co.uk/?q=3Devents.
Not only this, but there
will be three days of music at Josephs Well and a host of music, art
and film events at Holy Trinity Church. The full range of tickets -
including festival (=A329.50) and day p***** (=A312.50/15), and individual
tickets (=A31.50 to =A310) - are on sale from the Leeds City Box Office on
+44 (0) 113 2243801 and in person at The Carriageworks in Leeds.
Enquiries about tickets can be made to boxoffice@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
There
are also lots of free events to look out for too.
First up, in The Carriageworks on Tuesday 10th April, is a Cabaret
Night, compered by Leeds' lesbian comedian and musician ****ty
RubQuick - short for Clytemnestra Aurora RubQuick. Her raucous brand
of rude comedy has already earned her plaudits nationwide, performing
on the bill of the sell-out show One L of a Night with Rhona Cameron
and performing for the cast of 'Emmerdale', 'Heartbeat' and even for
Take That star Gary Barlow. Members of the public are invited to join
in the cabaret fun!
On Thursday 12th, top comediennes Isy Suttie, Jo Neary, Lou Conran and
Daisy Connolly take to the stage for a night of Stand-Up Comedy,
compered by Leeds' Penny Broadhurst. Isy Suttie is one of the most
innovative acts to emerge on the comedy circuit in recent times with
silly and twisted songs, stand-up and stories that have drawn
comparisons with Victoria Wood and Tom Lehrer.
Performances on Friday 13th kick off with a 'Secret' sound art
experience in the Yaitrei =DF Micro Happening, which will include
audible cinema, sound art, and strange video works. Audience members
are encouraged to bring something that makes a sound they really like!
This is followed by choreographer Rachel Dean's dance piece
Threadbare, which sees familiar patterns and well-worn rituals start
to unravel. Next up is Lorraine Smith with Products of Conception II -
a dance and physical theatre piece in which she directs two male
dancers investigating the concept of male fertility. Fini****ng the
night off is The Trouble from Bradford's Hi Veld Theatre Company, a
heart-warming fusion of clown and physical theatre, which see two
women inhabit an underground, dripping world.
Saturday 14th is jam packed with performances, featuring lots of local
Leeds talent and artists from further afield. Lancaster's Collette
Knowles will be taking to the streets of Leeds with her strolling
suitcase bringing Lewis Carroll's The Jabberwocky to life with song
and shadows. Back in The Carriageworks, York****re's own poet and
singer, Penny Broadhurst, premieres her new show A Little More Sonic
Live, which mixes fierce, witty and truthful spoken word with
intelligent and catchy proper pop music. Penny has won the hearts of
the internet community with her spoken word track LJaded, about the
perils of making starts and breaking hearts on the livejournal
community: like Kylie Minogue's Absinthe Angel guise in Moulin Rouge
if the lads had downed red After Shock instead. Moving away from solo
performers, (H)appy Logies (Indes d'Almey and visciousirene), a live
art duo from London who mix video, digital art and music into their
shows have been confirmed for the festival too. Their performance,
Body Signifier, is an investigation into how different paths, traces
and marks are created mentally, physically and emotionally during an
exchange between two people. Meanwhile, Preston's Certain Curtain
Theatre Company will be performing their play Lady in Red, which tells
the story of a woman in a red dress who wakes up on Christmas Eve with
no idea of who she is, and must piece together the dark and violent
elements of her past to unlock the mystery. Shortlisted for an Amnesty
International Freedom of Expression Award, this affecting show will be
followed by a discussion with the writers and actors for the audience
to get involved in. Saturday will finish with a piece called Grass by
performance group Leonard, who are making their way to Leeds from
Copenhagen in Denmark, where they are currently in residence. They are
creating a piece in Leeds itself, inspired by the city and Ladyfest.
Other performances on the Saturday include:
=B7 Gemma Bowell of Grasshopper Theatre with her piece Canvas, which
focuses on one woman's attempt to re-enact time past and questions the
extent to which attitudes of desperation, pragmatism and humour can
unmake or reaffirm the marks and masks we wear
=B7 Rachel Waters from Bretton Hall with her performance of Cell, a
reflection of the physical and psychological brutality one ordinary
man allowed himself to carry out in one cell
=B7 Dignity, a performance created by Wakefield's own Ali Bullivent,
which features dancers from Bretton Hall with the St Helen's Gospel
Singers with a selection of traditional and new songs, music, dance
and words to challenge present day slavery, focusing on women's fight
for freedom, from the transatlantic slave trade to the present day.
Sunday 15th sees spoken word take to the floor with Gayle Ross popping
in from the Beyond the Border North International Storytelling
Festival. Gayle has appeared in almost every major storytelling and
folk festival in the USA and Canada, and she says she wants to convey
the message that people should treat their environment and each other
with respect, and many of her stories are intermingled with history
about how Native Americans were brutally driven from their land by
early settlers. Raconteur Matthew Bellwood (telling cautionary tales
for grown-ups, set in his hometown of Leeds) will also be man-aging to
perform his show Be Prepared with Bellwood insisting that in part of
the show he'll lament his own lack of ovaries. Sunday also sees a
distinctly eastern twist to the festival's events with Akemi and
Rimika Solloway, a mother and daughter team who make authentic
Japanese culture accessible and enjoyable by juxtaposing two im****tant
female arts: Akemi will demonstrate the traditional Japanese custom of
taking tea and the art of the kimono - from her personal collection of
over 100 - while Rimika challenges the traditional male environment of
the warrior with her demonstration of kata with her samurai sword:
something her samurai ancestors did as the warrior rulers of Japan for
over 700 years.
So go on, do what Beth Ditto says - get involved, get a ticket.
More about Ladyfest Leeds
Ladyfest Leeds has a DIY ethos: all the organisers and participants
have come together as volunteers to showcase the very best of what
Leeds can offer. All proceeds will go to charities which sup****t
gender equality. This is the first Ladyfest to be held by people
living in Leeds, building on the heritage of over 100 Ladyfests around
the world since 2000: non-profit, feminist events organised mainly by
women and platforms for the talents of female artists and performers.
The events have been focused mainly on encouraging the talent of women
and girls, but are open to everyone. Ladyfest Leeds is affiliated with
the Celebrate Leeds initiative marking Leeds' 800th year.
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