LIFT 2024; in discussion with artistic director and CEO, Kris Nelson
London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT) x Spill The MTea: A chat about the festival, insights and Q&A with Kris Nelson!
Starting this June, LIFT has for over 40 years (every 2 years) invited the very best of international theatre makers to the big smoke of London. In both traditional and unexpected venues, Londoners gain the opportunity to witness some truly thrilling work!
June 5th - July 27th 2024, ‘featuring 8 premieres that challenge the way we see and interact with the world around us’. 5£ tickets are available for people on low incomes.
‘LIFT will take you on journeys that are deep and personal. It’s a festival that will catch your breath, spark your mind and rev your imagination. There’s adrenaline too. It’s international theatre for your gut’.
- Kris Nelson
This year’s themes and mottos:
The Personal Is Epic
Play Is Not A Distraction
THE 2024 PROGRAMME:
CLIFF CARDINAL’S ‘THE LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OR AS YOU LIKE IT’ UPTURNS ONE OF THE BARD’S MOST LOVED COMEDIES THROUGH AN ACERBIC CANADIAN FIRST NATIONS LENS AT THE SOUTHBANK CENTRE
AN EVENING AT THE BAT NIGHT MARKET BECOMES AN EXPLORATION OF GLOBAL FOOD SHORTAGES AND CULTURAL APPROACHES TO CUISINE FROM TAIWANESE ARTIST KUANG-YI KU AND UK DESIGNER ROBERT CHARLES JOHNSON AT THE SCIENCE GALLERY
NADIA BEUGRÉ’S SENSUOUS EXPLORATION OF MASCULINITY IS PRESENTED THROUGH DANCE IN L’HOMME RARE AT THE SOUTHBANK CENTRE
THE HALLS OF JUSTICE ARE BROUGHT TO BRIXTON HOUSE FOR THE TRIALS AND PASSIONS OF UNFAMOUS WOMEN, CREATED BY BRAZILIAN ARTISTS JANAINA LEITE, LARA DUARTE AND CLEAN BREAK
BRAZILIAN FUNK, CLOWN ANTICS, POP AND RAVEL’S ‘BOLERO’ INTERMINGLE IN BACCHAE: PRELUDE TO A PURGE AT SADLER’S WELLS, CHOREOGRAPHED BY CAPE VERDEAN MARLENE MONTEIRO FREITAS
CHIARA BERSANI’S BOUNDARY PUSHING PERFORMANCE ART L’ANIMALE REVISITS FOKINE’S BALLET ‘THE DYING SWAN’ IN SITE-SPECIFIC PERFORMANCES AT THE OLD BAILEY
NASSIM SOLEIMANPOUR AND OMAR ELERIAN’S ECHO (EVERY COLD HEARTED OXYGEN) IS A SERIES OF COLD READS, WHERE A NEW, UNREHEARSED ACTOR TAKES TO THE ROYAL COURT STAGE EVERY EVENING EXPLORING WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE AN IMMIGRANT IN TIME.
DEMOCRACY FROM WHERE I STAND IS A NIGHT OF PROVOCATIONS, POEMS AND PERFORMANCES ON AND ABOUT DEMOCRACY FROM LEADING WOMEN ACROSS LONDON AND THE WORLD, CO-PRESENTED WITH FINANCIAL TIMES AT THE DUTCH CHURCH
More information and details about the festival and individual pieces of work can be found here:
Now, onto the Q&A with Kris!
Q: Tell us a bit about LIFT; what the festival stands for, its mission and what personally intrigued you in getting involved in this project.
1. A: LIFT is the London International Festival of Theatre and for over 40 years we have been presenting radical, wonderful, daring, international theatre from artists across the world. We truly have a connection with artists around the whole world, not just Europe! LIFT is about theatre that wrestles with the headlines, that is contemporary, political and engaged with the world around us. It’s about showing and connecting audiences to international artists that they don’t normally get to see on our stages, and different styles of theatre as well. What I do and have always loved about LIFT - and the part I feel responsible for continuing- is that as festivals we are innovators. We always try to make new kinds of work happen, new relationships and partnerships. 3 brand new shows are actually on this year, all about connecting international theatre to Londoners. It’s really about this meeting point between London and some of the world’s most exciting international artists, I love that about the festival!
The festival really invited audiences to try something new and feel adventurous on what they are going to see and I hope they trust us with that. A meaningful night. This year we have tried to have a programme that is full of ideas and daring images not just for our brains but also for our eyes and hearts. And some adrenaline… we love big ideas, big images, big emotions. UK Theatre is so strong and so specific to itself, but we are really excited to bring in those different styles and expertise and inspire people in London.
Q: What is this year’s theme and why? What is the meaning behind the big phrase?
2. A: Sometimes it reveals itself and I think this year it sort of did out of the collection of works that we were putting together. I created the program alongside our creative producer, Amaya Jeyarajah Dent, we’ve seen a lot of work, and we had artists that I was in love with it was wonderful, really deep. Sometimes it’s about seeing work abroad, sometimes it’s about following artists and knowing when they need to be back on our stages. For example, Nadia Beugré hasn’t been in London for 10 years and she’s so mischievous and punk ‘I’m so happy she’s bringing L’Homme rare!’. Another one is Bacchae: Prelude to a Purge by Marlene Monteiro Freitas, a goddess of the stage, her work is literally shaping the whole generation and… she’s never been shown in the UK!
In terms of therems, there’s the theme of justice that’s emerged, the relationship to power. ‘The Personal Is Epic’ is about how our personal stories can be justified, be epics. There’s this piece called The Trials and Passions of Unfamous Women, showing these images of mythic women (ex. Joan of Arc, Medusa) and how society treats women who trangress the status quo, all around the image of a courtroom. It’s really personal and ‘out-there’, something we are really excited about. In similar themes, we are opening the festival with The Land Acknowledgement or As You Like It by Cliff Cardinal and it’s the first Canadian work I presented! This piece is a ceremony, the empty and performative gestures, the connections between people about race. It’s quite powerful and he’s really funny and really provocative. The other theme is around playing with the future and past and the kind of emblematic work there is this piece called Bat Night Market, which imagines a market in the future where bats are the future of food but are also extinct. It looks at taste, delicacy, disgust, the culture around food and ecological devastation. It’s a very LIFT event in the sense that it combines so many things; it won’t feel like going to the theatre, the museum or the gallery but somewhere in between.
3. Q: What was the artist selection process like? Do you choose and invite all your partners in advance?
3. A: It’s very easy to get a good sense of a show and it always helps to be in the room, to understand how a work is meeting an audience. That is something you can very rarely repeat in the live arts. That is the most important thing, there is a lot of work that we can see but it’s actually knowing how it can work with London. And that can be a tricky thing, even though there are many different Londons. We are very lucky to travel a lot and see a lot of work. We also co-present a lot with venues like the Southbank Centre or Sadler’s Wells, our projects with them are born out of a conversation that we have with their team. Generally, we follow artists over a long period of time, we are just now starting to plan for 2026. There is a sense of understanding what’s out there 2-3 years in advance only. It’s a very organic, invitation process because of the size of the festival.
4. Q: What could a first-time LIFT-goer expect from the festival this year?
4. A: I think across all the performances, they could expect to see something they don’t normally get to see in London. They’ll see, whatever the project, an artist that we feel here at LIFT is an absolute trailblazer. They are going to see a show by an artist who is a leader, taking risks, daring and is leading a whole new way of looking at the theatre. It’s an ecstasy. Later in the festival, we have this beautiful piece by an Italian maker called Chiara Bersani, who’s going to do a very contemplative, poetic, quiet but still mischievous solo. We will watch her on a plinth, we’ll be at the Old Bailey (Criminal Courts of the UK), a very prestigious place full of energy, and will be asked to think of her body and expertise. She is a disabled artist, with a wonderful sense of humour, and a slow form of ritual. A completely different experience for a viewer from other pieces; they would get variety. Artists that are in the lead of their craft. We are hoping for images and experiences that they’ll never forget so that the next time they go to these venues their favourite and most distinct thing that comes to mind, is LIFT.
5. Q: In terms of each show individually, what are the importance of representation, diversity and accessibility at the festival?
5. A: Absolutely! It’s something that we value and it’s really important to us to invest in artists that are diverse and representative in London, in all kinds of ways. Making sure that diverse artists are leading the biggest as well as the smallest shows, and that we are putting in the same kind of time and energy. In terms of our teams, across our commissions (inviting someone to create something new) this year we have 3 World Premieres, while the others are presentations of existing work. We are looking for equity, we are looking for change within the performing arts scene. I think the UK is stronger than some places in terms of diverse leadership but there’s still a long way to go. There are lots of stats about audiences that are not served by mainstream performing arts. We are trying to bridge that gap. It’s so interesting that within 8 projects there’s probably double the amount of countries represented! It’s a very special thing for the festival to host premieres, whether in London, the UK or globally! Another piece I am really looking forward to is Democracy from Where I Stand; LIFT is collaborating with the Financial Times in the year when 49% of the world’s population is going to vote in a national election. It will be a really rich night full of a lot of different tastes, I think it’s something everyone should come to.
6. Q: Where do you see LIFT growing into year after year? Do you have any long-term aspirations or dreams about the future festival over the years to come?
6. A: Always! That’s the wonderful thing about festival making, there is loads of change. There are so many people coming to one place to make something. It really satisfies your adrenaline. We are constantly trying to make a festival that speaks to London, that shows there’s a home for brave ideas and a place for progressive conversations that can long-term define what performing arts is from a global perspective. Creating exciting partnerships, with both the big venues and the local groups. I mean the long-term mission is that we are contributing to people’s understanding of each other and the world. That we are inspiring them and creating spaces for radicalness and joy, on a long-term, sustainable basis. It’s expensive, it’s time-consuming but we love it. We have got some wonderful partners and supporters, always looking to grow them. It’s really exciting to be doing a festival now, our last LIFT in 2022 was still in the shadow of COVID-19 and people seem to be responding to it very differently. Even though it’s a whole new era of internationalism in the arts in the UK because of Brexit, we are leading that, we are part of that and that is truly magical.
After speaking to Kris Nelson about LIFT 2024, I am more excited than ever about this year’s LIFT. Groundbreaking work, international galore and a cultural transformation, all in the city of London this summer! Make sure to visit their website and socials for even more information and details.
Book your tickets and witness international theatre at its finest this summer at LIFT <3
