Chrysalis Festival to Return to Traverse Theatre with UK's Best Emerging Talent

Chrysalis, Scotland's groundbreaking festival for ambitious performance by young theatre-makers, returns to the Traverse Theatre this November. Audiences can look forward to three days of innovative, thought-provoking and challenging performances from the UK's best youth theatres.

This year's Chrysalis Festival brings together seven theatre groups of talented, young artists from across the UK to stage new work. Each piece, created by the young companies themselves, will be performed over the three days of the festival, from Friday 17th to Sunday 19th November 2017 at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh's home of inspiring, innovative theatre.

The 2017 Chrysalis performing companies include Manchester's Contact Young Company, Firefly Arts from West Lothian, Reading Rep and the Beacon Young Company from Inverclyde. Each work takes an unapologetic and stark look at the contemporary concerns of young people, from saving the planet to teenage cancer.

In addition to the main programme, Chrysalis offers an Emergence strand, showcasing three new 20-minute experimental works-in-progress. Taking on the challenge this year are Glasgow's Citizens Theatre Young Co, Performance Collective Stranraer and Lyceum Youth Theatre working with Jo Sharp, winner of the Emergence Young Director Award, a prize jointly funded by Youth Theatre Arts Scotland, the Traverse Theatre and the Saltire Society. Audiences are very much part of Emergence with the opportunity to provide feedback towards future development of this new work.

The creative conversation continues over the festival weekend with a series of curated workshops, talks and events which will explore themes, artistic approaches, and politics surrounding the work, its creation and relationship to the wider world.

Tickets and festival ticket packages will be available via the Traverse Theatre Box Office from today at www.traverse.co.uk or 0131 228 1404.

Chrysalis launched in 2015 as a new theatre festival and the only platform of its kind in Scotland for ambitious and provocative performance by emerging artists. An innovation from YTAS (Youth Theatre Arts Scotland), Chrysalis aims to attract new audiences with emotionally engaging theatre, inspire Scotland's youth arts sector and enhance public perception of creative work by young adults.

Youth Theatre Arts Scotland is the national development organisation for youth theatre. Our mission is to transform lives through youth theatre by developing inspiring participatory opportunities for young people in Scotland, and by connecting, supporting and training the professionals who work with them. We support a membership of around 100 youth theatre groups and individual practitioners who engage around 23,000 young people in youth theatre activity across the country every week.

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CHRYSALIS 2017 - THEATRE COMPANIES AND SHOWS:

BEACON YOUNG COMPANY/INVERCLYDE (www.beaconartscentre.co.uk)

HOW TO SAVE THE WORLD...ISH

Why save the world when someone else can sort it out? The magic of childhood is mixed with grown-up responsibility in this fast-paced and physical cautionary tale.

FIREFLY ARTS/WEST LOTHIAN (www.firefly-arts.co.uk)

DARK MECHANICS

If humans are the main drivers of change, who or what is driving us? Poignant and funny, sinister and dirty, this bold and visceral performance promises to entertain and arrest.

CONTACT YOUNG COMPANY/MANCHESTER (www.contactmcr.com)

THERE IS A LIGHT: BRIGHTLIGHT

BRIGHTLIGHT was the first major study of its kind on specialist cancer care in England for young people. Its findings and young patients' perspectives combine to inspire this original performance.

READING REP/READING (www.readingrep.com)

QUEER FISH

Sweets, Skinny and Baby live in their own dystopian versions of reality: addiction, violence, chemsex and self-destructive behaviour. The arrival of a parcel has fatal consequences for the misfit trio.

EMERGENCE

This strand comprises three 20-minute experimental scratch performances by emerging young theatre-makers and Saltire-Award-winning 'Emerging Director' Joanna Sharp.

Hard Times: Citizens Theatre Young Co./Glasgow (www.facebook.com/citzyoungco)

Mr Blue Sky Jo Sharp with Lyceum Youth Theatre (www.jo-sharp.com)

Remote Control: Performance Collective Stranraer/Stranraer (http://Dumfriesymca.org/ryanyouththeatre)

WORKSHOPS, TALKS & EVENTS

A series of curated opportunities run alongside the main Chrysalis programme including:

The World in Me: Writing for Youth Theatre with Beacon Young Company & Firefly Arts. 17 November 3.00PM - 5.00PM.

Directors Forum: Approaches to Making New Work with Contact Young Company. 19 November 11.00AM - 12.45PM.

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