Spotlight On: Voila! Europe Festival

This November sees London host the Voila! Europe Festival for its fifth year. Of course, staging a festival of European theatre has become more of a political statement since June 2016, and Voila! calls itself a “non Brexit-fearing festival whose mission is to bust the barriers of language and showcase plays from around Europe & the UK to the multi-national audiences of London.” In reaction to this, perhaps, this is the first year the festival has renamed itself Voila! Europe, broadening its scope from being a Francophone festival to one of all languages spoken on the continent.

The festival takes place from the 8th – 18th November, and features performances at the Cockpit Theatre, the Etcetera Theatre and the Applecart Theatre. Some productions are performed in multiple languages, alternating on different nights. Others are in translation, or are performed in their native language.

Producer Olivia Coxhead, for Chemistry Theatre, says of the festival “Voila! Europe is a great platform for successful European artists and companies to bring new work to London. It’s really hard for small organisations to make meaningful international links, and this festival provides a break through opportunity for them to stage their work in the UK.”

“Voila! has been vital in bridging the cultural gap between European countries for five years now. Amid all of the Euro-skepticism, we really need arts festivals like this to help bring in exciting new work from overseas. Voila! Europe shows us how much we all have in common, and how important it is to keep dialogues open between Britain and the rest of Europe.”

Theatre Bubble has picked out a taster of the festival below:

At The Heart of Things – 14th and 18th November, Cockpit Theatre
Dance-puppetry performance inspired by Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis, examining female sexuality, queer identity and homophobia. Two young women dance together in a nightclub which is the target of a homophobic terror attack.

What Does Stuff Do? – 16th and 18th November, Cockpit Theatre
What Does Stuff Do? is a lecture-style performance in which Robin strives to understand the ever-unfolding relationships between people and stuff, and to help fill in the space between art and science. Juggling, physical comedy and almost-philosophy combine.

Odysseus Plastok – 10th (In English) and 12th (In French) November, Cockpit Theatre

Chemistry Theatre and Fleming Welt Company present an ecological recreation of the Odysseus legend which sees the hero born out of a plastic bag in the ocean. Greek myth becomes an ode to the protection of the oceans.

Stuck – 16th and 18th November (In English with bits of French), Etcetera Theatre

Having seen an earlier performance of this work, directed by clown queen Lucy Hopkins, I can testify it is a bizarre and elusive exploration of the ecological crisis and our cultural paralysis when it comes to acting to prevent it.

See full listings here.