Furnace Festival 22 Opens At Leeds Playhouse This Month

Leeds Playhouse is celebrating new work, new artists and new partnerships with an exciting programme of performances, workshops, conversations and social events from 7-12 November.

Furnace Festival 2022 is an engaging, experimental and interactive week-long event that gives early career artists an opportunity to share and get valuable feedback on their work. It also gives audiences the chance to experience new voices and to explore their own creativity.

The festival is a key part of the Playhouse's ongoing Furnace programme, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year. Working with hundreds of locally-rooted artists and organisations every year, this is the theatre's development engine, generating and creating new performance work while supporting and nourishing the local creative community.

Furnace Producer Rio Matchett said: "We're so excited for the return of Furnace Festival, which this year marks five years of Furnace, the artist and new work development programme at Leeds Playhouse. This year, we're sharing a panel discussion on Black Theatre Makers and Censorship, a few new shows still in development, and a variety of workshops aimed at a wide range of creatives.

"Furnace Festival is about celebrating theatre makers and getting audience feedback to inform how we make the shows of tomorrow. Come and join us - we'd love your voice to be a part of the conversation."

All the following Furnace Festival 2022 events are either free or pay-what-you-can.

Monday 7 November

Black Theatre and the Archive: Exploring the Gaps

Two Wiki workshops in association with The British Library and a lunchtime talk by Joe Williams of the Heritage Corner Project and Black History Walks Leeds exploring the timeline of Black British theatre history; how access to these histories has shaped what plays are studied, performed and written today; how the history of Yorkshire features in these narratives; and how genre, class and race contribute to absences in the archive.

New Views

Vibrant script-in-hand sharings of new work from 14-19 year old writers as part of The National Theatre's New Views. Ranging from the streets of war-torn Syria, to exploring the awkwardness of adolescence, to the intricacy of dissociation, these pieces examine our morality and question what it is to be human.

Tuesday 8 November

Black Theatre Making and Censorship in the Archive

A panel discussion and performance exploring Black theatre-making in the Lord Chamberlain's Plays Collection archive, and how Black theatre practitioners are recovering their rich heritage.

Wednesday 9 November

Scratch

An evening of raw and developing work that gives local artists a chance to hear audience feedback, and audiences a chance to chat with artists about theatre. Four local artists and companies will share up to twenty minutes of work in development, and then they'll ask the audience how they think the piece ought to progress.

Thursday 10 November

Pick n Mix

Three lasses. One lad. And a bucketload of teen angst. This coming of age story of sisterhood, sex ed and sanitary pads is by Bradford writer Kat Rose-Martin, the Playhouse's inaugural Kay Mellor Fellow. You can also book to see this show on 11 November.

Friday 11 November

Making Your Solo Show

This free workshop led by Harrogate-based playwright, theatre-maker, producer and mentor Rachael Halliwell is a comprehensive overview of creating a solo show from original idea to production. Using practical exercises, participants will be led through key areas like: log lines and pitching; exploring story world; writer as performer; resilience; assembling a team; feedback and festivals; showcases and producers; marketing, PR and digital presence; Edinburgh Fringe and reviewers; and touring.

Saturday 12 November

The Light House

Love is a complicated business. It gets even more complicated when the person you love doesn't want to be alive. Tender, funny and defiantly hopeful, this work-in-progress sharing of The Light House by Alys Williams explores a real-life story of falling in love and staying in love, even when the lights go out and you're lost in the dark.

Krebs Dance!

This fun interactive dance workshop explores what happens when we mix science and dance. Led by writer and biomedical scientist Jaz Craddock-Jones and Choreographer Junior Jones it looks at how science can inspire creation, and how art can deepen our understanding of science.

Take care

A script-in-hand sharing of Leeds Playhouse Writer in Residence Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan's new play. Directed by Playhouse Associate Director Sameena Hussain, it follows the course of Juwairiya and Chris's friendship over several years, exploring whether their commonalities are enough to protect them against a world in which racism, Islamophobia and state violence exist.

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