Here & Now showcase returns to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Here & Now returns to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe ith a brilliant programme of the best dance, installation, integrated performance, movement and theatre being created in England right now.
Article Source: Here & Now
Last Updated: 7 May 2025 12:30
Funded by Arts Council England, the showcase is presented by partner organisations Battersea Arts Centre, FABRIC and GIFT
Performance dates: Monday 18 August - Sunday 24 August 2025
Venues include: Assembly@Dance Base, Pleasance, Traverse Theatre and Zoo Venues
Running from Monday 18th - Sunday 24th August in venues including Dance Base, Pleasance, Traverse Theatre and Zoo Venues, Here & Now 2025 presents four public performances, two industry based performances, and a series of pitch proposals for artists to promote their upcoming work to delegates and international networks.
This year’s showcase of artists bring their backgrounds, lived experiences and expertise together to explore themes of tradition and heritage, revolution and collective deliberation, community building and self discovery.
Public performances include the deeply personal and political Nowhere by actor and activist Khalid Abdalla (The Crown, The Kite Runner, United 93); autobiographical musical epic The Legends of Them by iconic reggae artist and actor Sutara Gayle AKA Lorna Gee; Ad Infinitum's stunning show about death, deafness and ritual Last Rites; and SERAFINE1369’s detailed, meditative, hypnotic dance piece IV.
Nowhere is commissioned and produced by Fuel, The Legends of Them is by Hackney Showroom, Last Rites is co-created by George Mann and Ramesh Meyyappan, and IV is produced by Metal & Water.
Nowhere is commissioned and produced by Fuel, The Legends of Them is by Hackney Showroom, Last Rites by Ad Infinitum is co-created by George Mann and Ramesh Meyyappan, and IV is produced by Metal & Water.
These are presented alongside two performances for delegates that include A CITIZENS’ ASSEMBLY, a participatory play concerning the climate emergency by longtime Tim Crouch collaborator Andy Smith and Lynsey O’Sullivan, and Sleight of Hand, an innovative and inventive installation that subverts the format of a touch tour by artist Jo Bannon.
Further industry-oriented offerings come in the form of ‘Then & Now’ - a series of pitches about brand new work from three Here and Now success stories: BULLYACHE, Dan Daw Creative Projects and Sung Im Her.
Funded by Arts Council England, Here & Now is delivered by partners Battersea Arts Centre (London), FABRIC (Birmingham/ Nottingham) and GIFT (Gateshead). The partners work with artists and organisations to platform a geographical spread of England, presenting world-class artists and their tour-ready work to audiences and industry networks across the Edinburgh Festivals.
This year’s programme came from an open call, and was selected by a panel including the showcase partners (BAC, FABRIC and GIFT) and international presenters, alongside representatives from British Council and Unlimited - the arts commissioning body that supports, funds and promotes new work by disabled artists for UK and international audiences.
Talking about the Here & Now programme on behalf of the showcase partners, Festival Director of GIFT Kate Craddock said:
‘Here & Now strives to challenge what performance created in England might look or feel like. As partners, we are proud to present a showcase in the Edinburgh Festivals that features leading artists who push their practice in new directions.
‘This year’s programme represents forms and perspectives that platform personal stories from across England. It brings together lived experiences and personal stories, holding a mirror up to social, economic and political issues that feel pertinent to today.’
The Here & Now programme includes:
Public Performances
Nowhere by Khalid Abdalla with Fuel
Dates: 12-24 August, times incoming
Venue: Traverse Theatre
In this intricate and playful solo show, inspired by his involvement in the Egyptian revolution of 2011, and his experience of the counter-revolution that followed, actor and activist Khalid Abdalla (United 93, The Kite Runner, The Crown) takes us on a surprising journey into his own history, set against a cartography of seismic world events.
From the histories of colonialism and decolonisation; friendship and loss; protests and uprising against regimes across the world; to the violence in Gaza following the events of October 7th 2023, Khalid brings together the personal and the political in an act of anti-biography that asks how we got here and how we find agency amidst the mazes of history.
Last Rites by Ad Infinitum
Dates: 18-24 August, 15:50
Venue: Pleasance One at Pleasance Courtyard
Travel from the UK to India in Last Rites, a stunning fusion of visual storytelling, electrifying movement, and an immersive soundscape, created by internationally acclaimed artists George Mann and Ramesh Meyyappan. How do you say goodbye when words were never there?
Arjun’s father never learnt sign language, and now that he’s gone, Arjun must find his own way to honour him. In a world where ancient traditions meet modern reality, Arjun embarks on a deeply personal and visually mesmerising quest to create a farewell ritual for his father woven from memory, love, and loss.
With no spoken words, Last Rites features creative captions, Sign Language, and a deep, resonant soundtrack that can be felt and heard. Last Rites is accessible to Deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing audiences alike.
Last Rites is made possible through funding from Arts Council England and Bristol City Council and co-commissioned by London International Mime Festival, Derby Theatre and Corn Exchange Newbury.
IV by SERAFINE1369
Dates: 19-24 August, 15:50
Venue: Assembly@Dance Base
IV (4) considers cycles, time, divination and decomposition. A series of tableaux, a speaking clock and the sounds of a breaking storm set the scene, creating a stage for the fleeting meaning that emerges through shifting proximity and changing constellations.
IV is a work that fractures and unfolds from stillness into moments of blissed out dancing.
The four dancers engage in a detailed, meditative and expansive practice of constant movement, energetic tuning and impossible stillness.
Commissioned by The Yard Theatre, and supported using public funding by Arts Council England.
The Legends of Them by Sutara Gayle AKA Lorna Gee/Hackney Showroom
Dates: 19-24 August, 17:25
Venue: Zoo Southside
A memory: South London reggae pioneer Sutara Gayle AKA Lorna Gee hears her radio debut from Holloway Prison. Another: She’s engulfed in the Brixton uprising sparked by the police shooting of her sister. And now she is here, a silent retreat, seeking spiritual guidance from her brother Mooji and ancestor Nanny of the Maroons, and a moment of transcendence.
Powered by high-octane musical numbers and a virtuoso performance, the critically acclaimed, award-winning The Legends of Them is a breath-taking, roof-raising chronicle of Sutara’s singular, extraordinary life – and of the legends that have guided her.
In Association with Brixton House & Royal Court Theatre.
Industry Performances
A CITIZENS’ ASSEMBLY by Andy Smith and Lynsey O’Sullivan
We are the citizens! This is our assembly! We are the actors in this story!
What are we doing about the climate emergency? What are we not doing? What more could we be doing? What more should we be doing?
Be part of the story and join the debate with A CITIZENS' ASSEMBLY, a new work by acclaimed theatre maker Andy Smith created in collaboration with applied arts practitioner Lynsey O’Sullivan. Part of a series of works called Plays For The People: plays written to be performed by the people in the room.
Developed with the support of The Dukes Theatre Lancaster, The Social Responsibility Fund and The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at The University of Manchester.
Sleight of Hand by Jo Bannon
Sleight of Hand is a tactile installation for curious fingers and unbelieving eyes. Subverting the format of a touch tour, this sumptuous work invites audiences to participate in a series of touch encounters with unknown objects, materials and matter.
Integrating audio description, tactile design, choreography and an immersive ASMR soundscape, Sleight of Hand explores what we can discover if we loosen our grip on the known visual world and let our senses wander…
As always, Jo’s work is guided by her offbeat humour and her ongoing fascination with objects, visual perception and how strange the ordinary world really is.
An Unlimited UK Partner Award 2023 commission with Wellcome Collection made possible thanks to funding from Arts Council England. Produced by MAYK.
Tickets for the public programme will be on sale via the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from Wednesday 7 June 2025. Tickets for Nowhere by Khalid Abdalla will be on sale as part of the Traverse Festival announcement on Wednesday 21 May 2025.
Here & Now runs from Monday 18 August - Sunday 24 August 2025 at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. For more information, visit: https://www.hereandnowshowcase.uk/
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