FEATURE
GIFT
T-B, L-R: Crack of Dawn by Greg Wohead. Copywright Paul Blakemore, As Far As Isolation Goes by Tania El Khoury & Basel Zaraa, Augmented by Sophie Woolley. Credit Helen Murray
FESTIVAL ORGANISERS AIM TO MAINTAIN THE IMMEDIACY OF A REAL-TIME FESTIVAL AND TO INSPIRE A ROBUST DIALOGUE ABOUT HUMAN CONNECTION AND RESILIENCE THROUGH CRISIS
CATHARINA JOUBERT DISCOVERS HOW GATESHEAD INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF THEATRE HAS EMBRACED DIGITAL FORMATS TO DELIVER ITS FULL PROGRAMME Novelty is the driving force behind the Gateshead International Festival of Theatre (GIFT). Established in 2011, founder and festival director Kate Craddock wanted to present the best in innovative performance work that embodied the regenerative spirit of Gateshead, and the region as a whole, while supporting the professional development of contemporary playwrights. This year, the annual three-day festival carries on in the spirit of novelty by opening up a new virtual world of theatre. In response to the circumstances linked to Covid-19, GIFT has reimagined the entire festival as a digital experience, removing cultural barriers and bringing together artistic communities from the North East and abroad. Through the curation of an eclectic variety of performances, workshops, debates and sensory experiences, festival organisers aim to maintain the immediacy of a real-time festival and to inspire a robust dialogue about human connection and resilience through crisis. Kicking off on Friday 1st May, this year more than ever GIFT is placing artistic experimentation and collaboration at its core. While creative development in the North East is still at the forefront of this
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year’s festival, it is the collaborative connection between different artistic and cultural communities throughout the coronavirus pandemic that takes centre stage. Manifestos From Times of Crisis is one of several workshops that encourages out-of-the-box thinking when it comes to artistic creation in relation to the pandemic. Taking place throughout the festival, it creates an online space where a limited number of participants will have the chance to reflect on what is currently happening, how we are responding to it and how we want it to shape our future, gathering a collection of manifestos that will be posted over the course of the festival. On Friday night, the avant-garde play IT DON’T WORRY ME brings together the Catalan Company Atresbandes and duo Bertrand Lesca and Nasi Voutsas to showcase how GIFT establishes a connection between disparate organisations and giving exposure to artistic expression that would otherwise not have been seen in the region. Starting with an empty space that soon spirals out of control through conversation and visuals, the play questions the tense links between art and political correctness. Festival-goers can also join
