Transform 2021-22 Reimagined Festival Will Open With World Premiere Of Quarantine's 12 LAST SONGS

Transform, the engine room for powerful performance that creates exhilarating international festivals, has today announced a reimagined festival for 2021-22 that aims to experiment with what an international festival can look like and represent now and in the future.

Responding to the events of the last 18 months, Transform 21-22 is an invitation to artists and communities to join Transform in manifesting an extended festival for our times, one that is slower, more sustainable and care-led. As we move into a new phase of the pandemic that presents its own challenges, this model will allow utmost flexibility for artists, creative people and audiences in how they create and experience performance. From Autumn 21-Spring 22, this extended festival will invite audiences from across Leeds and beyond to rediscover and explore the city as they connect with bold, brave, vivid and socially conscious performance by powerful artists from across the globe.

Transform 21-22 will launch this October with the world premiere of 12 Last Songs by Manchester based and internationally renowned company, Quarantine. An exploration of labour and the work that we do, 12 Last Songs is part epic durational performance and part live exhibition of people which will be presented on the Quarry stage of Leeds Playhouse.

On 23 October, people from different walks of life will be invited by Quarantine to work a shift. They will each demonstrate their skills on stage and talk about their work in order to construct a fleeting portrait of society. A hairdresser might be cutting hair, a bricklayer building a wall, a chef preparing a meal or perhaps a watchmaker repairing a watch. Directed by Richard Gregory, Co-Artistic Director of Quarantine, 12 Last Songs will bring together people from across Leeds who might not otherwise meet in order to explore the role work plays in our lives, how it shapes our identity and, in the context of the pandemic, how these ideas have been completely turned on their heads.

As part of their commitment to inclusion and accessibility, Transform is trialling a 'Pay What You Can' ticket model that invites audiences to select the pricing level that best applies to them. Ticket options will range from £2-£25 with the aim of allowing more people to access festival events whatever their circumstances. Transform anticipates that this approach will encourage more people to take greater risks in discovering extraordinary and unusual performances, whilst sparking a transparent conversation about the value of festival-making and culture.

Transform will shortly announce details of the festival launch activities that will run alongside 12 Last Songs, followed by a series of projects and participation opportunities for Autumn/Winter 2021 and daring, exciting productions and performances for Spring 22. Tickets for 12 Last Songs are available now.

Amy Letman, Creative Director of Transform says:

'Following the upheaval of the last 18 months and the continued impact on artists and the cultural sector, going back to 'normal' isn't an option. We are excited to be imagining an extended festival, one that is more sustainable, embedded and care-led. We're busy concocting a range of new productions, projects and experiences that speak to the current moment both locally and globally and that invite audiences across Leeds to rediscover the city and engage with powerful, international performance from this Autumn. We can't wait to rip up the rule book and experiment with a new kind of festival model for our times. I can't think of a better company to kickstart this adventure than the incredible Quarantine - who are known for their intimate and epic examinations of daily life. 12 Last Songs will present a portrait of the city in an extraordinary way, and at an extraordinary moment.'

Richard Gregory, Co-Artistic Director of Quarantine says:

"I have this fascination with watching people work - watching people do something with skill and application, witnessing one thing become another, observing the pleasure and satisfaction of seeing something through. Recently, I've been thinking a lot about work - my own relationship with it but also the profound changes brought about by the pandemic. 12 Last Songs will invite people in based on the work that they do - to demonstrate their skill and to talk about themselves and their daily lives. It is an attempt to create a complex, fragmented portrait of people and society. Work becomes a lens to talk about wider things - about the way that society is structured, about beliefs and values, economics and politics and identity, about entitlement and inheritance, and the privileging of one type of work over another. Leeds feels like the perfect place to have these conversations - I studied in the city 40 years ago, and I'm delighted to be back working with Transform again, after we presented 'The Soldier's Song' as part of the first Transform in 2011."

12 Last Songs is co-commissioned by Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Cambridge Junction with the support of the Stobbs New Ideas Fund, and HOME. It is co-produced by Transform and is supported by Arts Council England, The Rank Foundation and Manchester City Council.

Transform 21-22 is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, and supported by Leeds 2023 and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Produced in partnership with Leeds Playhouse.

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