BE FESTIVAL (shortened from Birmingham European Festival) takes place annually in July at The Birmingham Repertory Theatre, this year it will run from Tuesday 2 until Saturday 6 July.
Each year a daring and innovative programme of boundary pushing theatre, dance, comedy, circus, music, visual and performing arts takes place turning the theatre’s rarely seen backstages into a den of creativity, discovery and exchange where diverse cultures are celebrated.
Kicking off the 10th edition of BE Festival Tuesday 2 July, are BE old timers Sotterraneo with their re-staged show Dies Irae. Through a deconstructed crime scene, they explore how humans create our ‘collective’ memory of our past, present & future.
Tom Cassani, BE Festival's 1st prize winner from 2018, returns to Birmingham Tuesday 2 July. Blending astounding visual illusion and riddles of text Tom will leave you questioning what to believe in his new show I Promise You That Tonight.
Mokhallad Rasem presents Soul Seekers at BE Festival on Wednesday 3 July - a personal performance documentary following the hopes and hardships of fellow refugees in European asylum centres.
One Shot brings their terrifyingly accurate show One Show to BE Festival on Wednesday 3 July. Expect amazing feats of acrobatics amongst axe throwing and Chinese pole technique, set to a live rhythm and blues score.
On Wednesday 3 July, choreographer Paula Rosolen returns to BE Festival with her show ‘PUNK‽’ : a lively and energetic homage to punk and contemporary dance, complete with a live band and pogo sticks.
Catalan company Ça Marche and a cast of local children, explore a world of improvised chaos, fake snow and giant blow up monsters, in search of a new society. But is a return to childhood enough to save the planet?
Join Romain Teule and Daniel Pizamiglio, Thursday 4 July for their show Previsão do Tempo (Weather Forecast), a funny, quirky, part game, part performance lecture reflecting on time and embracing the unknown.
Swiss daredevil Marc Oosterhoff returns to BE Festival on Thursday 4 July for Promises Of Uncertainty. With his usual blend, of dance, theatre, and circus the only certainty is that he’ll have you on the edge of your seat.
Want to become a cave explorer for a night? Join BE Festival on Friday 5 July for Light Years Away. Edurne Rubio will lead you below ground, following in the footsteps of her family, trying to escape Francisco Franco’s regime above.
What does it mean to live in the moment? Friday 5 July, join Anna Biczók as she explores how we create what we call ‘experience’ in Precedents To A Potential Future.
Makers of critically acclaimed ‘EUROHOUSE’ and ‘PALMYRA’ return to BE Festival on Fri 5 July to perform ‘THE END’. A dance for the end of their friendship, the end of the world, but ultimately a dance celebrating our mortality.
Half documentary, half theatrical retelling, ‘A Land Full Of Heroes’ follows the life of Romanian writer Carmen-Francesca Banciu after the revolution in Bucharest on a journey to Berlin. La Conquesta de pol Sud explore the evolution of post-socialist mentalities and what it means in 2019.
One of the highlight’s of BE Festival is BE Next: BE’s Youth Theatre scheme. Throughout the week of BE they’ll be creating a brand new piece of theatre, ready to perform on Saturday 6 July.
Returning artist Marco D'Agostin combines beautiful choreography, tongue-in-cheek pop culture references, and fragments of five different languages in this gently playful, experimental piece Avalanche.
Through beautifully choreographed dance, Kor'sia embody a fleeting encounter between two strangers in this poetic meditation on changing passions... a kind of ‘Brief Encounter’ if you will.
BE FESTIVAL 2018 winner Tom Cassani (UK) returns with his full length show Someone Loves You Drive With Care, a poetic mix of illusion, theatre and circus stunts that test the boundaries of his body.
BE FESTIVAL (shortened from Birmingham European Festival) takes place annually in July at The Birmingham Repertory Theatre, this year it will run from Tuesday 2 until Saturday 6 July.
Each year a daring and innovative programme of boundary pushing theatre, dance, comedy, circus, music, visual and performing arts takes place turning the theatre’s rarely seen backstages into a den of creativity, discovery and exchange where diverse cultures are celebrated.
2019 highlights
Tuesday 2 July
DIES IRAE: 5 EPISODES AROUND THE END OF THE SPECIES - SOTTERRANEO
Kicking off the 10th edition of BE Festival Tuesday 2 July, are BE old timers Sotterraneo with their re-staged show Dies Irae. Through a deconstructed crime scene, they explore how humans create our ‘collective’ memory of our past, present & future.
I PROMISE YOU THAT TONIGHT - TOM CASSANI
Tom Cassani, BE Festival's 1st prize winner from 2018, returns to Birmingham Tuesday 2 July. Blending astounding visual illusion and riddles of text Tom will leave you questioning what to believe in his new show I Promise You That Tonight.
Wednesday 3 July
SOUL SEEKERS - MOKHALLAD RASEM
Mokhallad Rasem presents Soul Seekers at BE Festival on Wednesday 3 July - a personal performance documentary following the hopes and hardships of fellow refugees in European asylum centres.
ONE SHOT - CIE. ONE SHOT
One Shot brings their terrifyingly accurate show One Show to BE Festival on Wednesday 3 July. Expect amazing feats of acrobatics amongst axe throwing and Chinese pole technique, set to a live rhythm and blues score.
PUNK‽ - PAULA ROSOLEN/HAPTIC HIDE
On Wednesday 3 July, choreographer Paula Rosolen returns to BE Festival with her show ‘PUNK‽’ : a lively and energetic homage to punk and contemporary dance, complete with a live band and pogo sticks.
Thursday 4 July
SILENCE - ÇA MARCHE
Catalan company Ça Marche and a cast of local children, explore a world of improvised chaos, fake snow and giant blow up monsters, in search of a new society. But is a return to childhood enough to save the planet?
Previsão DO TEMPO (WEATHER FORECAST) - ROMAIN TEULE & DANIEL PIZAMIGLIO
Join Romain Teule and Daniel Pizamiglio, Thursday 4 July for their show Previsão do Tempo (Weather Forecast), a funny, quirky, part game, part performance lecture reflecting on time and embracing the unknown.
PROMISES OF UNCERTAINTY - CIE. MOOST
Swiss daredevil Marc Oosterhoff returns to BE Festival on Thursday 4 July for Promises Of Uncertainty. With his usual blend, of dance, theatre, and circus the only certainty is that he’ll have you on the edge of your seat.
Friday 5 July
LIGHT YEARS AWAY - EDURNE RUBIO
Want to become a cave explorer for a night? Join BE Festival on Friday 5 July for Light Years Away. Edurne Rubio will lead you below ground, following in the footsteps of her family, trying to escape Francisco Franco’s regime above.
PRECEDENTS TO A POTENTIAL FUTURE - ANNA BICZÓK
What does it mean to live in the moment? Friday 5 July, join Anna Biczók as she explores how we create what we call ‘experience’ in Precedents To A Potential Future.
THE END - BERTRAND LESCI & NASI VOUTSAS
Makers of critically acclaimed ‘EUROHOUSE’ and ‘PALMYRA’ return to BE Festival on Fri 5 July to perform ‘THE END’. A dance for the end of their friendship, the end of the world, but ultimately a dance celebrating our mortality.
Saturday 6 July
A LAND FULL OF HEROES - LA CONQUESTA DE POL SUD
Half documentary, half theatrical retelling, ‘A Land Full Of Heroes’ follows the life of Romanian writer Carmen-Francesca Banciu after the revolution in Bucharest on a journey to Berlin. La Conquesta de pol Sud explore the evolution of post-socialist mentalities and what it means in 2019.
BE NEXT - BE NEXT YOUTH COMPANY
One of the highlight’s of BE Festival is BE Next: BE’s Youth Theatre scheme. Throughout the week of BE they’ll be creating a brand new piece of theatre, ready to perform on Saturday 6 July.
AVALANCHE
Returning artist Marco D'Agostin combines beautiful choreography, tongue-in-cheek pop culture references, and fragments of five different languages in this gently playful, experimental piece Avalanche.
YELLOW PLACE
Through beautifully choreographed dance, Kor'sia embody a fleeting encounter between two strangers in this poetic meditation on changing passions... a kind of ‘Brief Encounter’ if you will.
SOMEONE LOVES YOU DRIVE WITH CARE
BE FESTIVAL 2018 winner Tom Cassani (UK) returns with his full length show Someone Loves You Drive With Care, a poetic mix of illusion, theatre and circus stunts that test the boundaries of his body.