Khalid Abdalla's Solo Show NOWHERE and More Set For Fuel's 20th Anniversary Season
Learn more about the lineup here!
By: Stephi Wild Jun. 12, 2024
Fuel has announced the first part of its anniversary season. The programme is a celebration of everything that has been achieved as well as a statement of intent for the future, including new work from Khalid Abdalla, Toby Olié and Melanie Wilson.
Producing new work, as well as supporting the development of work and artists' careers has always been at the heart of what Fuel does and this programme fulfils those aims with multiple new projects as well as ambitious and ground-breaking work designed to provide real and significant support to artists as they create new work and develop their skills.
The past is celebrated too, with a brand new podcast from Artistic Director & CEO Kate McGrath in which she takes a look back over 20 years of producing and examines how things have changed. Through interviews with a range of collaborators she is able to present a unique and important perspective on the development of the sector of two decades. Alongside the podcast, Fuel is delighted to announce that Queen Mary University London is acquiring Fuel's 20 year archive with help from major grants from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the National Archives. This remarkable and invaluable set of resources will be available to the public for the first time.
Finally Kate McGrath's personal accomplishments have been recognised as she has been given a Visiting Fellowship of the Cultural Programme at the University of Oxford.
Kate McGrath said: “To my surprise and delight, it's Fuel's 20th birthday. You would expect that over 20 years doing this, that the process would be getting easier, with more positive results, more respect and a more resource. But, whilst I am thankful every day for the many blessings in my professional life, and mindful of how much harder it is for so many others, especially those who continue to be marginalised by structural inequalities, many days at work are incomparably harder now than they were 20 years ago. The impact of the cost of living crisis and cuts in social welfare on our audiences, participants, artists and colleagues; the legacy of the pandemic on our resources, human and financial; the imbalance between rising costs and standstill or reduced funding; politically-motivated culture wars and financially-motivated social media algorithms leading to implicit and explicit censorship of freedom of expression: all of these challenges directly affect our work every day.
And yet there is hope – and there are moments of joy and humanity. We are lucky to be alive. And at Fuel, we're producers so we make things happen. This year, we're celebrating our birthday with a season of work by exceptional artists who possess a combination of insight into the world, and the ability through whatever their chosen form to share that insight with audiences in a way that creates wonder, empathy and the potential for change in how we think and feel about each other and the world we live in. Khalid Abdalla's debut play is as beautiful and profound as you would expect from an artist and activist of his integrity and ability. Toby Olie and Ross Collins are creating a delightful puppetry performance about a Bear and Mouse resolving their differences. Melanie Wilson invites us to reimagine our relationship with animals amidst the ecological emergency in a sound experience which will linger with you. And this is just the beginning. We hope you'll join our celebrations throughout this very special year.”
Nowhere
an anti-biography
Written and performed by Khalid Abdalla
Directed by Omar Elerian
Set & Costume Design Ti Green
Lighting Design Jackie Shemesh
Sound Design Panos Chountoulidis
Video Design Sarah Readman
Choreography Omar Rajeh
Dramaturgy Ruth Little
Writing Mentor Chris Thorpe
Photography Manuel Vason
Battersea Arts Centre
1-19 October 2024
19:30 (14:00 matinees 5, 12 & 19 October)
Press Night 4 October 2024 at 19.30
Pay what you can (£8-£24)
bac.org.uk
HOME, Manchester
22 - 26 October
19:45 (14:15 matinee 26 October)
Prices: £10 / £15 / £20
homemcr.org
Star of United 93, The Kite Runner and The Crown, Khalid Abdalla, in his writing debut, has created an intricate and playful solo show, inspired by his involvement in the Egyptian revolution of 2011, and his experiences of the counter-revolution that followed. Commissioned and produced by Fuel, Nowhere will premiere at Battersea Arts Centre, followed by HOME, Manchester. It is directed by Omar Elerian (Misty, NASSIM and ECHO: Every Cold-Hearted Oxygen at the Royal Court this July as part of LIFT) and performed by Abdalla, who will take audiences 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 7 October 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.
There's a Bear on My Chair
by Ross Collins
adapted and directed by Toby Olié
Southbank Centre
19 - 23 February 2025
Wednesday - Friday: 11:00am, Saturday: 10:30am.
Further performances to be announced.
£14 - £26
southbankcentre.co.uk
Tickets on sale: Tuesday 18 June (Southbank Centre Members), Wednesday 19 June (General Public
Ages 2-7 and their grown-ups
Poor Mouse! A Bear has settled in his favourite chair and it just isn't big enough to share.
Mouse tries all kinds of tactics to move the pesky Bear but nothing seems to work. However, it isn't long until the tables are turned and Bear finds himself with an unwelcome guest – the cheeky Mouse won't leave his house!
In this first ever stage adaptation of Ross Collins' much-loved books, Toby Olié (Spirited Away, Animal Farm, War Horse) brings Bear and Mouse to life through loveable, life-sized puppets. Enter the mischievous world of Bear and Mouse for a show packed with laughs and surprises. The world premiere production will be presented as part of the Southbank Centre's flagship Imagine Children's Festival, the UK's leading arts festival for children aged 0-11 and their grown-ups.
Based on There's a Bear on My Chair and There's a Mouse in My House by Ross Collins, © Ross Collins, 2015. Licensed by Nosy Crow Limited, adapted for stage and directed by Toby Olié.
Dreaming Species
By Melanie Wilson
An online listening experience
Dreaming Species is a listening experience designed for headphones, conceived and created by Melanie Wilson.
Across three episodes, this dream-like piece embarks on a journey into a world in which human connection to animals is re-imagined using the processes of machine learning. To engage with the crisis of biodiversity loss in the UK, Wilson collaborated with an AI neural net, using the voices of animals at risk of extinction and human voices, creating a new sonic language.
Combining multi-part vocal music, animal and machine voice, text and binaural recording techniques, Dreaming Species is the opening creative chapter of a multi-year research process, in which Wilson has explored the possibilities of machine learning to imagine new sonic meeting grounds for human and animal narratives.
The project was initiated by a Sound and Music's Dimensions Award and is also supported by funding from Arts Council England.
Dreaming Species can be experienced online for free at: www.dreamingspecies.com
Love Letters Straight From Your Heart
Plymouth Theatre Royal
16-19 October
16-19 October at 7.45pm, 17 and 19 October at 2.45pm
£16
https://theatreroyal.com/whats-on/love-letters/
Uninvited Guests stage an event that is somewhere between a wedding reception, a wake and a radio dedication show. In their signature performance style, they blur distinctions between theatre and social gatherings. Toasts are made, speeches given, songs sung and dances danced. They speak of their own and others' loves - deep, passionate, ambivalent and unrequited – and play songs dedicated to them.
Each performance is unique. If you want to join us on this happy occasion, you will be invited to contribute a dedication to someone you love and we will speak your words on your behalf. Be our witnesses and we'll be yours.
Love Letters Straight From Your Heart was originally a BAC Scratch and Arnolfini We Live Here commission. Also commissioned by Leeds Met Studio Theatre. Originally funded by Arts Council England.
Peaceophobia
Co-created by Common Wealth, Speakers' Corner and Bradford Modified Club
Written by Zia Ahmed
Strike a Light, Gloucester
26 - 28 September, 2024
Free
https://strikealight.org.uk/peaceophobia
If ‘Islam' comes from ‘peace', how can you fear peace?
Peaceophobia is an unapologetic response to rising Islamophobia around the world. Part car-meet, part theatre, the show explores how you find peace in a world that tells you who you are.
Growing up in the shadow of the Bradford Riots, 9/11 and police harassment, cars and faith are a sanctuary, an escape, an expression for three Muslim Pakistani men.
Staged in a carpark with a Supra, a Golf and a classic Nova, Peaceophobia brings together cars and theatre with cinematic lighting and an original electronic sound score.
Peaceophobia is supported by Without Walls, Bradford 2025, Co-Creating Change, Arts Council England, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Pears Foundation, and Fenton Arts Trust. The R&D for Peaceophobia was supported by Blueprint: Without Walls R&D Investment Fund.
Artist Development
Fuel has been commissioning, developing and producing new live performance for twenty years. Starting from the very seed of an idea, Fuel works carefully and closely with artists - professional and non-professional, communities - of place and of identity, and partners - inside and outside the arts, to grow an idea into a reality. Fuel does this with a combination of expertise and curiosity; the approach draws on years of experience as well as being bespoke.
In the past 12 months alone, Fuel has supported artists with over 300 hours of creative development workshop time, employing 75 freelancers, and investing £150,000 in the exploration of new work. All the projects in the programme Fuel announces today have benefitted from being part of this investment.
Fuel has also announced:
A new 3-week Global Majority Puppetry Intensive by a team of Olivier Award winning and nominated puppeteers. Led by Fred Davis (Life of Pi, The Hartlepool Monkey), with support from Mervyn Millar (My Neighbour Totoro, War Horse), Toby Olié (Spirited Away, Pinocchio) and Nick Barnes (Life of Pi, Angels in America) in collaboration with Little Angel Theatre and Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. This Intensive will take place from 4th November to 23rd November 2024.
New artist and producer residency partnerships at Hawkwood Centre for Future Thinking and Coombe Farm Studios. A key part of developing new creative work is focused time away from it all, to consolidate thoughts and grow ideas. That's why we are excited to launch new residency partnerships with Hawkwood Centre for Creative Thinking in Gloucestershire, focusing on artists creating new work in collaboration, and Coombe Farm Studios in Devon, building on the celebrated Producer Farm with artist-producer residencies focusing on human rights, climate crisis and social justice.
New commissions: on the occasion of our 20th birthday, we are looking to the future which we can now share will include new projects with Joelle Taylor, Inua Ellams, Jay Bernard, Michael Henry, Suspect Culture, Lula Mebrahtu, Travis Alabanza & Debbie Hannan, Racheal Ofori, Oona Doherty, Will Adamsdale, Rachel Bagshaw, Lucian Msamati, and Natalie Ibu.
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