Transform, the UK’s leading festival of powerful and international performance, returns to Leeds from 21–25 October 2025 with a daring programme of theatre, dance and performance.
This year’s line-up includes artists from across the globe, offering provocative and socially conscious work that reflects a rapidly changing world.
Among the highlights is The Things Around Us by Ahamefule J. Oluo, a solo performance that blends jazz and stand-up comedy. It features “darkly humorous true stories about other people” set against a haunting soundscape.
Brazilian collective MEXA present The Last Supper, a performance-banquet that merges autobiography with religious references in a feast of melancholy and joy.
Dan Daw Creative Projects bring EXXY, a vulnerable and tender solo dance piece exploring imposter syndrome and fluctuating self-worth. Set in the Australian outback, it’s described as “audacious, vulnerable and tender.”
RUNNER by Ira Brand takes place both in the theatre and on the streets of Leeds. It’s a performance about running and exhaustion that asks, “why do we value people when they push themselves to their limits?”
Samir Kennedy and Sean Murray present IT’S GOT LEGS!!!!!!!, a vulgar and vampy whirlwind performance using DIY theatre tools to explore identity and performance.
Amrita Hepi’s Rinse is an intimate solo piece weaving personal narratives with colonial history, feminism and pop culture. It asks: “is it possible to start again?”
Dear Laila by Basel Zaraa is an interactive installation experienced by one audience member at a time. Through tactile storytelling, it shares the Palestinian experience of displacement and resistance.
Transform 25 promises a rich and diverse programme that challenges, entertains and inspires. All events operate on a Pay What You Can basis, making the festival accessible to all.
Listings and ticket information can be found here
