Highlights to catch at LIFT Festival 2022
Highlights to catch at LIFT Festival 2022. Photo: Sun & Sea at the Albany
LIFT, London’s biennial international festival of theatre, turns 40 this year and not only that, it marks artistic director Kris Nelson’s first full festival, after his 2020 edition got cancelled as a result of you-know-what.
LIFT is typically characterised by bold, pioneering and thought-provoking performance pieces, drawing together practitioners and creatives from around the world. The 2022 festival is no different, welcoming a climate opera set on a beach and an interactive, promenade ghost hunt set between three shopping centres among its daring productions.
Here are four highlights set to push the boundaries and challenge your perceptions of performing arts…
Sun & Sea, The Albany
Climate opera Sun & Sea (pictured above) was Lithuania’s national entry for the 2019 Venice Biennale – and it won the Golden Lion. Now, it’s making its UK debut as part of LIFT Festival at the Albany. From above, audiences are invited to look down on a crowded beach, where sweaty, sandy holidaymakers in bright bathing suits sing of early morning flights, while half-eaten sandwiches sink into the sand and plastic bags tumbles silently through the air.
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When: Thursday 23 June - Sunday 10 July
Where: The Albany, Douglas Way, Deptford, London SE8 4AG
ԳԻՇԵՐ | Gisher, Sadler’s Wells
Part live, part video performance, Gisher by Armenian artist Georgia Ohanesian Nardin explores ideas of geography, identity, heritage and conflict. A promenade piece, the performance begins in the Lilian Baylis Studio at Sadler’s Wells before moving audiences outside, where the oral traditions of SWANA (South West Asian, North African) communities will provide the recorded audio backdrop for performances taking place around a fire.
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When: Wednesday 6 - Friday 8 July, 8pm
Where: Lilian Baylis Studio at Sadler's Wells, Rosebery Avenue, London EC1R 4TN
Radio Ghost, Brent Cross, The Mall Wood Green and Exchange Ilford
Become a ghost-hunter in this interactive, audio-led, app-based production, and broadcast your journey as you venture bravely through a haunted shopping mall. Blend in as a shopper, unlock dark stories and discover the ghosts that deliver possessions into our hands in a world that knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
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When: Saturday 2 & Sunday 3 July
Where: Brent Cross, The Mall Wood Green and Exchange Ilford
The Making of Pinocchio, Battersea Arts Centre
A new version of Pinocchio that’s been four years in the making, this fantastical journey from artists and lovers Rosana Cade (they/them) and Ivor MacAskill (he/him) reframes Carlo Collodi’s story, running it alongside and in response to MacAskill’s gender transition. Set in a film studio crafted from real wood, fake wood, and real fake wood, their production poses the question: what does it take to tell the truth?
Read more
When: Wednesday 29 June - Saturday 2 July, 7:30pm
Where: The Grand Hall, Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill, London SW11 5TN
LIFT is typically characterised by bold, pioneering and thought-provoking performance pieces, drawing together practitioners and creatives from around the world. The 2022 festival is no different, welcoming a climate opera set on a beach and an interactive, promenade ghost hunt set between three shopping centres among its daring productions.
Here are four highlights set to push the boundaries and challenge your perceptions of performing arts…
Sun & Sea, The Albany
Climate opera Sun & Sea (pictured above) was Lithuania’s national entry for the 2019 Venice Biennale – and it won the Golden Lion. Now, it’s making its UK debut as part of LIFT Festival at the Albany. From above, audiences are invited to look down on a crowded beach, where sweaty, sandy holidaymakers in bright bathing suits sing of early morning flights, while half-eaten sandwiches sink into the sand and plastic bags tumbles silently through the air.
Read more
When: Thursday 23 June - Sunday 10 July
Where: The Albany, Douglas Way, Deptford, London SE8 4AG
ԳԻՇԵՐ | Gisher, Sadler’s Wells
Part live, part video performance, Gisher by Armenian artist Georgia Ohanesian Nardin explores ideas of geography, identity, heritage and conflict. A promenade piece, the performance begins in the Lilian Baylis Studio at Sadler’s Wells before moving audiences outside, where the oral traditions of SWANA (South West Asian, North African) communities will provide the recorded audio backdrop for performances taking place around a fire.
Read more
When: Wednesday 6 - Friday 8 July, 8pm
Where: Lilian Baylis Studio at Sadler's Wells, Rosebery Avenue, London EC1R 4TN
Radio Ghost, Brent Cross, The Mall Wood Green and Exchange Ilford
Become a ghost-hunter in this interactive, audio-led, app-based production, and broadcast your journey as you venture bravely through a haunted shopping mall. Blend in as a shopper, unlock dark stories and discover the ghosts that deliver possessions into our hands in a world that knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
Read more
When: Saturday 2 & Sunday 3 July
Where: Brent Cross, The Mall Wood Green and Exchange Ilford
The Making of Pinocchio, Battersea Arts Centre
A new version of Pinocchio that’s been four years in the making, this fantastical journey from artists and lovers Rosana Cade (they/them) and Ivor MacAskill (he/him) reframes Carlo Collodi’s story, running it alongside and in response to MacAskill’s gender transition. Set in a film studio crafted from real wood, fake wood, and real fake wood, their production poses the question: what does it take to tell the truth?
Read more
When: Wednesday 29 June - Saturday 2 July, 7:30pm
Where: The Grand Hall, Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill, London SW11 5TN
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| What | Highlights to catch at LIFT Festival 2022 |
| When |
23 Jun 22 – 10 Jul 22, Performance times vary depending on event |
| Price | £0 - £17 depending on event |
| Website | Click here for more information and to book |