London International Festival of Theatre Will Feature 7 Premieres That Challenge The Way We See And Interact With The World Around Us

LIFT 2024 WILL FEATURE SEVEN PREMIERES THAT CHALLENGE THE WAY WE SEE AND INTERACT WITH THE WORLD AROUND US 

TAKING PLACE FROM 5 JUNE - 27 JULY

TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW

LIFT, the leading London biennial festival of international performance, today announces the full programme for LIFT 2024. The second festival presented by Artistic Director and CEO Kris Nelson.

Featuring three World Premieres, two UK Premieres and one London premiere, the international festival imports work from Canada, Taiwan, Ivory Coast, France, Italy, Cape Verde, Portugal, Brazil, Iran and Palestine, to connect Londoners with global experiences, uniting audiences and artists alike across borders. 

LIFT will be accessible to audiences across the city, from Southbank Centre, to the Old Bailey to Brixton House. All LIFT 2024 shows have an allocation of £5 tickets available for people on low incomes.

THE 2024 PROGRAMME: 

• CLIFF CARDINAL’S ‘THE LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OR AS YOU LIKE IT’ UPTURNS ONE OF THE BARD’S MOST LOVED COMEDIES THROUGH AN ACERBIC CANADIAN FIRST NATIONS LENS AT THE SOUTHBANK CENTRE

• AN EVENING AT THE BAT NIGHT MARKET BECOMES AN EXPLORATION OF GLOBAL FOOD SHORTAGES AND CULTURAL APPROACHES TO CUISINE FROM TAIWANESE ARTIST KUANG-YI KU AND UK DESIGNER ROBERT CHARLES JOHNSON AT THE SCIENCE GALLERY 

• NADIA BEUGRÉ’S SENSUOUS EXPLORATION OF MASCULINITY IS PRESENTED THROUGH DANCE IN L’HOMME RARE AT THE SOUTHBANK CENTRE

• THE HALLS OF JUSTICE ARE BROUGHT TO BRIXTON HOUSE FOR THE TRIALS AND PASSIONS OF UNFAMOUS WOMEN, CREATED BY BRAZILIAN ARTIST’S JANAINA  LEITE AND LARA DUARTE,  AND CLEAN BREAK 

• BRAZILIAN FUNK, CLOWN ANTICS, POP AND RAVEL’S ‘BOLERO’ INTERMINGLE IN BACCHAE: PRELUDE TO A PURGE AT SADLER’S WELLS, CHOREOGRAPHED BY CAPE VERDEAN MARLENE MONTEIRO FREITAS 

• CHIARA BERSANI’S BOUNDARY PUSHING PERFORMANCE ART L’ANIMALE REVISITS FOKINE’S BALLET ‘THE DYING SWAN’ IN SITE-SPECIFIC PERFORMANCES AT THE OLD BAILEY  

• NASSIM SOLEIMANPOUR AND OMAR ELERIAN’S ECHO (EVERY COLD HEARTED OXYGEN) IS A SERIES OF COLD READS, WHERE A NEW, UNREHEARSED ACTOR TAKES TO THE ROYAL COURT STAGE EVERY EVENING EXPLORING WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE AN IMMIGRANT IN TIME. 

• DEMOCRACY FROM WHERE I STAND IS A NIGHT OF PROVOCATIONS, POEMS AND PERFORMANCES ON AND ABOUT DEMOCRACY FROM LEADING WOMEN ACROSS LONDON AND THE WORLD, CO-PRESENTED WITH FINANCIAL TIMES AT THE DUTCH CHURCH

Kris Nelson, Artistic Director and CEO of LIFT commented “LIFT 2024 will take you on journeys that are deep and personal. It’s a festival that will catch your breath, spark your mind and rev your imagination. There’s adrenaline too. It’s international theatre for your gut.

In this year’s festival, The Personal is Epic. Personal accounts of justice, exile and protest take on mythic proportions through barrier-breaking storytelling. LIFT artists will show us Play Is Not a Distraction. They’ll reveal hidden depths beneath surface-level fun and humour, whilst offering feasts for the mind and plunging you into sensation. 

For this edition, we’ve been focusing on creating opportunities for Londoners to work with international artists in dynamic collaborations – from building shows from the ground up to exploring Concept Touring models between here and abroad. These commissions are surrounded by some truly iconic presentations. It’s all in a climate of funding scarcity and aversion to risk. We’ve got faith though, and we couldn’t do it without the fearlessness of these artists, the shared vision of our presenting and commissioning partners and the support of our core funders Arts Council England, City of London Corporation among many others. LIFT 2024 is the result of the care, determination and expertise of a lot of incredible people, and I write this on behalf of our amazing team, crew, trustees and volunteers past and present who’ve made this edition what it is.

It’s a festival full of divergent perspectives, difference and complex cultural conversations. That’s what LIFT is here to do. We invite you to come together in spaces where theatre will connect you to daring ideas and voices of our times and with each other in a place where you can share, disagree, experience together a festival rich in experiences and ideas.

We’re making this festival during a complex global moment; amidst a climate crisis, a cost of living crisis and war and turmoil in a number of global regions. LIFT’s aim is and always has been to champion international perspectives, to amplify lesser heard voices, and to be a place that can hold diverse experiences and points of view. That includes internally as a team and organisation, and amongst our audiences, whilst respecting and caring for each other as a priority. In that spirit and taking all those things to heart - we wish you a powerful festival experience full of discovery and dialogue.”

LIFT 2024 SHOW BY SHOW

The Land Acknowledgement or As You Like It - London premiere 

Creator and writer Cliff Cardinal 

Toronto

Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room

5 June - 9 June 

The Land Acknowledgement or As You Like It by cultural provocateur Cliff Cardinal, is a devastating yet laugh-out-loud examination of land acknowledgements as cultural and political practice.

Cultural provocateur Cliff Cardinal revisits Shakespeare’s timeless tale of mistaken identities, gentle ruses and banishment in this show that exults in difficult subject matter. 

When Crow’s Theatre, one of Toronto’s most eclectic and adventurous companies, premiered this audacious new production, they said very little about it. All they revealed was that Cliff Cardinal was doing a “radical retelling of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It.” There were no further details, no cast list, nothing. 

How – and why – would Cardinal, a young Indigenous playwright and actor of Cree and Lakota heritage, acclaimed for his acerbic humour and willingness to deal with raw emotions and difficult subject matter, going to retell one of Shakespeare’s most accessible and whimsical plays? 

Dubbed "the Canadian arts surprise of the year" by The Globe and Mail, Cardinal's brilliant play, The Land Acknowledgement or As You Like It, offers you the unvarnished truth of the state of the reconciliation process between Indigenous communities and colonial settlers in Canada.  When the curtains rise, prepare for Shakespeare as you’ve never seen him before and likely never will again.

Democracy From Where I Stand

Presented by LIFT and The Financial Times

The Dutch Church, City of London

8 June

A night of provocations, poetry, film and performance, asking the question: what does democracy look like from where you stand? 

Democracy From Where I Stand promises an evening crackling with discussion and connection. Leading women from around our city and around the world sound out on the state of government, representation, rights and freedom. In a year where 62 countries vote in national elections - 49% of the world’s population - we’re reflecting on what democracy means. No better place to do it than in The City of London - the world’s longest-running municipal democracy.

This live event is inspired by the Financial Times’ Democracy film series, developed in consultation with LIFT and featuring short new films by Margaret Atwood (Toronto), Aditi Mittal (Mumbai), Elif Shafak (London/Istanbul) and Lola Shoneyin (Lagos). Join us for this special night of LIFT ideas Democracy From Where I Stand and catch these films online. 

Presented by LIFT and The Financial Times as part of LIFT the City. Supported by the City of London Corporation in collaboration with Destination City. 

Bat Night Market - World Premiere 

Kuang-Yi Ku and Robert Charles Johnson 

Taipei/Eindhoven and London

Science Gallery London 

11 June - 15 June 

A marketplace for the mind, an experience for the senses. Step outside your comfort zone and into a night market of the future.  

Today, in the face of global food shortages, humans need to re-examine our food sources. One option presenting itself as a sustainable and nutritious option is the unassuming bat. These flying mammals  have been a delicacy in some cultures for centuries, but this ancient dish is often viewed with distaste in the Western world.  

Yet with many bat populations in decline, is it problematic to consume bats? Should they instead be revered for their vital impact on our ecosystem? How do we navigate notions of delicacy, distaste and interspecies empathy as we radically rethink the norms of global consumption?  

Set in an imagined night market where bat species are extinct,  Bat Night Market intersects performance, speculative design and science. We invite visitors to celebrate these enigmatic animals in an evening of discussions, games, tastings and sensory experiences.  

Bat Night Market is an international collaboration between UK designer Robert Charles Johnson and

Taiwanese artist Kuang-Yi Ku, commissioned by LIFT. It has been co-commissioned by LIFT and Taipei Performing Arts Center.

Funded by ARTWAVE and the British Council as part of the International Collaboration Grants.

Supported by Cockayne Grants for the Arts, a donor advised fund at the London Community Foundation.

Research and development supported by Science Gallery London, part of King’s College London, and the Embassy of the Netherlands in the UK.

L’Homme rare - UK Premiere 

Choreographer Nadia Beugré 

Abidjan/Montpellier

Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall 

12 June - 13 June

The issue of gender has always featured in the Ivory Coast dancer Nadia Beugré’s work, but in L’Homme rare she tackles it head-on, mischievously questioning the attention paid to bodies and the qualities attributed to their movements. 

Starting with a game that blurs perceptions of gender, the choreographer places the spectator in the position of a voyeur, inviting the audience to experience her research on our understanding of the naked body, particularly Black and male, in history and today.

The faces of the five dancers are not visible. The choreography is executed solely using their backs, inspired by dance techniques and styles that principally utilise the pelvis. With the insistent use of buttocks, these practices are seen as being more feminine, challenging or even chipping away at a strongly built and assimilated masculinity.

L’Homme rare playfully subverts the history of Europeans’ gaze on Black bodies and its persistence today.

The performers are Nadim Bahsoun (Lebanon), Daouda Keita (Mali), Marius Moguiba (Ivory Coast), Lucas Nicot (France) and Eric Nebié (Burkina Faso).  

The Trials and Passions of Unfamous Women - World Premiere 

Janaina Leite, and Clean Break 

Sao Paolo and London 

Brixton House 

14 June - 22 June

Press night: 17 June 

Women who dare to transgress will face judgement.

The world premiere of The Trials and Passions of Unfamous Women asks what is justice, and who has the power to decide. This bold and theatrical experience immerses us in the haze between the shared rituals of theatre and the halls of justice.

A passion is what obsesses us, what we take risks for. Throughout history, driven by "passion",  women have crossed the line between the legal and illegal, the moral and immoral and, because of that, faced the laws of their time.  Whether in public trials or in the intimacy of homes, a visible and invisible struggle has been waged against women who are judged for their passions.

Clean Break is a UK-based theatre company celebrated for its work with women with lived experience of the criminal justice system, or who are at risk of criminalisation. Its Member artists join forces with taboo-breaking Brazilian theatremakers Janaina Leite, Lara Duarte to devise an epic journey through the theatre of judgement. We encounter the voices of historic, mythic women and the personal stories and passions of the women on stage, labelled as transgressive as truth and fiction collide.

Co-commissioned by LIFT and Clean Break, In Proud Association with Brixton House. 

Bacchae: Prelude to a Purge - UK Premiere 

Choreographed by Marlene Monteiro Freitas 

Lisbon

Sadler’s Wells Theatre

18 June - 19 June 

A raucous and absurd carnival processes onstage to the sounds of Brazilian funk, clown antics, pop, and Ravel’s Boléro. 

In this wildly delirious work, Cape Verdean-born, Lisbon-based choreographer and performance artist  Marlene Monteiro Freitas dares you to explore the careful order, and wild chaos of Euripides—and ultimately, the depths of the human psyche. 

In 2017, Marlene was acknowledged by the government of Cape Verde for her cultural achievement. In 2018, she created Canine Jaunâtre 3 for Batsheva Dance Company and was awarded the Silver Lion award for dance at the Venice Biennale. In 2022, she was the featured artist of Festival D’Automne and was named a Chanel Next Prize Winner.

Presented by LIFT and Sadler’s Wells. There will be a BSL interpreted post-show talk on Tuesday 18 June, with Kris Nelson, artistic director of LIFT and members of the creative team.

L’Animale - UK Premiere 

Created and performed by Chiara Bersani 

Milan

Old Bailey, City of London 

22 June - 23 June

If you want to meet the animal, you have to ask for permission.  

Set inside the majestic hall of The Old Bailey, Chiara Bersani revisits The Dying Swan (a ballet originally choreographed by Michel Fokine for Anna Pavlova in 1905), with her work, L’Animale.  

Motionless, she invites audiences in, to observe and study the animal and enter into its world. To contemplate what it means to be a human and to find peace in a restless world.  

Through evocative vocals and soundscape, Bersani creates a performance that is unique and unrepeatable each time, guided by the audience. What remains is a ghostly, poetic demonstration in one of the City's most formidable buildings.  

Chiara Bersani is one of the world’s leading stage artists and an influential figure in Italian performance. With a reputation of pushing the boundaries of dance, Bersani uses her body to draw on the universal themes of loneliness and mortality. As an activist, Chiara works on the accessibility of disabled artists in the performing arts scene.  

Presented by LIFT as part of LIFT the City. Supported by the City of London Corporation in collaboration with Destination City. 

ECHO (Every Cold Hearted Oxygen) - World Premiere 

Written by Nassim Soleimanpour 

Directed by Omar Elerian 

Berlin/Tehran & Milan/London 

The Royal Court Theatre 

13 July - 27 July

Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour (White Rabbit Red Rabbit, NASSIM) and Italian Palestinian director Omar Elerian (NASSIM, Misty, two Palestinians go dogging) push the boundaries of his signature unrehearsed cold reads to the next level.

A new performer takes to the stage at every show without having a clue of what is going to be asked of them. Unrehearsed and unprepared, the script becomes their guide as they journey through the story of the playwright, connected live from his flat in Berlin? Or is he? Can we really know where or when we are?

ECHO asks us to confront what it feels like to be an immigrant in time. Fusing technology with the oldest tricks in the book, ECHO is an experiment in concept touring for the age of climate crisis: an ambitious, magical and uncompromising production where no one travels yet everybody can be present.

An NSP production, co-produced by LIFT (London) / The Royal Court Theatre (London), Staatstheater Mainz, Riksteatern (Sweden), Why Not Theatre (Toronto), Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles (Brussels) / Le Lieu Unique (Nantes), Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg. In association with The Shed (New York City) and Canberra Theatre Centre. A LIFT Concept Touring Commission. Supported by Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. ECHO is generously supported by the Maria Björnson Memorial Fund.

Affordable ticket prices are available across the programme to allow more people to access festival events whatever their circumstances.

Tickets are on sale now - full details can be found on LIFT

Listings 

The Land Acknowledgement or As You Like It - London premiere

Southbank Centre- Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall

5 - 7 June, 8pm

8 - 9 June, 3pm

Democracy From Where I Stand
The Dutch Church, City of London

8 June, 7pm

Bat Night Market - World Premiere 

Science Gallery London 

11 June - 14 June, 7pm & 15 June, 2pm
BSL performance 15 June 

L’Homme Rare - UK Premiere 

Southbank Centre: Queen Elizabeth Hall 

12 - 13 June, 7.30pm 

Post show talk: 12 June

Audio Description available: 13 June

The Trials and Passions of Unfamous Women - World Premiere 

Brixton House 

14 June - 22 June 19:30

19 & 22 June 2pm

Press night: 17 June 

Bacchae: Prelude to a Purge - UK Premiere 

Sadler’s Wells Theatre

18 June - 19 June, 19:30

Post show talk: Tuesday 18 June 

L’Animale - UK Premiere 

Old Bailey, City of London 

22 - 23 June 2pm & 4pm
 

ECHO (Every Cold-Hearted Oxygen) - World Premiere
The Royal Court Theatre

13 July - 27 July 6.30pm/7pm/7:30pm

Matinee performances: Sat 20 July & 27 July, 1.30 & Thurs 25 July, 2.30

Press night: 17 July 7:00pm

Post show talk: 18 July

Captioned and Relaxed Performances - 18 July, 7:30pm & 27 July, 1:30pm

About LIFT
LIFT, London’s biennial international festival of theatre, has been bringing joyful, daring and unforgettable theatre from around the world to London for over 40 years, using the whole of the city as its stage. 

Every two years, LIFT presents a festival full of bold and relevant culture, international perspectives, and thought-provoking performances. Whether it’s a much-loved venue, iconic landmark or unsung corner of London, LIFT gathers Londoners around incredible art. 

LIFT’s mission is to create powerful, invigorating experiences that challenge artistic, political and social conventions; to champion artist advancement at home and abroad; to lead sustainable internationalism; and to celebrate and connect London to the world.  We engage and create communities around ideas and projects, connect leading artists to locals, connect international artists and local artists to London, and together make incredible art happen.  

A charity limited by guarantee and based in Toynbee Studios in East London, LIFT has a diversified income mix and is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation with a biennial turnover in the region of £2 million. 

Find out about the different ways you can help LIFT celebrate their 40th anniversary year.