Artistic Director & CEO of Fuel, Kate McGrath has today announced more details of the company’s 20th anniversary season programme.
A project that began with the company’s 10th anniversary – Ten Years From Then – comes full circle. Gareth Fry’s sound installation which asked a group of school children for their hopes and dreams for the world in ten years time is revisited at the end of those ten years, to assess what has come to pass and look forward to another decade.
Toby Olié’s stage adaptation of Ross Collins’ children’s book favourite There’s a Bear on My Chair has added further performances to its run in the Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of the Southbank Centre’s Imagine Festival and also confirms a week of performances at The Egg, Theatre Royal Bath.
Fuel will partner with the Barbican, London, on a two week takeover festival in The Pit. FuelFest will see four artists share new works in progress.
Racheal Ofori presents Beauty is the Beast, a brand new satire exploring the cost of beauty. Will Adamsdale presents AI, AI, Oh… (or how I wrote a hit sitcom with ChatGPT but we’re not talking now) – a sharp and witty look at how AI is becoming ever more present in everyday life.
Award-winning poet Jay Bernard presents a new live show Joint which examines the controversy that surrounds the law of Joint Enterprise in particular regarding racial discrimination.
And finally Melanie Wilson presents Oracle Song, a performance with a score developed in collaboration with AI that takes an intricate look at humans’ relationship with the natural world.
Gloria Patrick is the pseudonym of a woman who survived human trafficking and sexual slavery. Osoyegbon is a powerful audio piece performed by Akiya Henry that will be available to listen to on the Fuel Engage platform. Designed to raise awareness the piece is an educational tool aimed at young people and comes accompanied by learning resources for teachers and adults.
Fuel also continues to upskill the sector through expert-run training programmes, with this autumn’s Global Majority Puppetry Intensive (in association with Little Angel Theatre) well underway. Led by Fred Davis, the course also includes masterclasses with Nick Barnes, Haruka Kuroda, Mervyn Millar, Aya Nakamura, Rachael Nanyonjo, Toby Olié, Little Angel Theatre and Tobi Poster-Su.
Kate McGrath said: “Fuel’s programme always seeks to engage with the times we’re living in. We believe children and young people deserve the very best experiences the arts can offer from a young age and are delighted to be producing the premiere of Ross Collins’ There’s a Bear on My Chair with the brilliantly talented Toby Olié, for 2-7 year olds and their grown-ups, at the iconic Imagine Festival. We’re also offering up the chance for you to listen in to children’s voices imagining the future we’re now living in, with Gareth Fry’s beautiful Ten Years From Then. There’s also a chance to hear an extraordinary story of survival, in Gloria Patrick’s autobiographical Osoyegbon, revealing the untold reality of human trafficking and modern day slavery right here in the UK. And looking to the future, we’re thrilled to be taking over the Pit at the Barbican with FuelFest, inviting audiences to experience work in progress performances of brand new work by Racheal Ofori, Will Adamsdale, Jay Bernard and Melanie Wilson. From the beauty industry to the climate crisis via racial discrimination and AI, these artists bring poetry, music, comedy and movement to the big questions of our times. Here’s to the future!”
