"Biggest and best" Physical Fest

Tmesis Theatre's Physical Fest – the only festival of its kind in Europe - returns from 24 May 24 to June 1 for its ninth annual outing, and they say the event is set to be their biggest and best yet. With more events than ever before, the 2013 fest will boast two UK premieres and is set to incorporate street theatre for the very first time. Companies from Zambia, France and Germany will be travelling to join the UK performers. Physical Fest will launch on May 24 at the Unity Theatre with the annual Fest Live international showcase, featuring five different companies in one entertaining and dynamic evening. On Saturday May 25, the Unity hosts the first of two UK premieres when Daphnis Kokkinos, a 20 year veteran of the renowned Pina Bausch Tanztheater Company brings his first work outside of the company. Described as a "one-way ticket on a reflective journey through Japan, India, Greece, France, South America, and most importantly, life", Addio Addio Amore is a passionate and moving dance theatre performance in which Daphnis reveals stories, experiences, anecdotes, exchanges and dreams that he shared with the late Pina Bausch, one of the great choreographers. On Friday May 31 the Unity Theatre will also host Mary Pearson’s one-woman show Failure (And Other Opportunities For Non-Linear Success). A new solo performance bringing together visual absurdity with contemporary dance, comedy and social commentary, it was first performed as a work in progress at the Bluecoat last year. Check out the trailer here. After a successful fundraising campaign, Physical Fest is delighted to welcome a group of dedicated young acrobats from Zambia’s capital city Lusaka to Liverpool. The Barefeet Acrobats work with young people from a very poor background, living in Lusaka's notorious compounds, helping them channel their energy into something positive, teaching unique skills and create opportunities for talented youngsters to develop and to showcase their abilities. Barefeet Acrobats, who will deliver a fun workshop at The Bluecoat, have a collection of high profile performances under their belt and are widely considered to be Zambia’s number one acrobat group. Here's a lovely film that gives you a taste of their work:The closing performance of Physical Fest is another UK premiere at the Unity. Clowning show Beating McEnroe by Fringe First winner Jamie Wood visits Liverpool en route to the Edinburgh Fringe, making its premiere at the Unity Theatre on June 1, the final night of the festival. You might know Jamie from the first tour of Spike Theatre's The Games - here's a work in progress film of the show from last year. Workshops will also make up a large part of the festivities with a number of sessions including clowning, mask, improvisation and physical theatre classes led by top names in physical theatre including LAMDA’s Michael Brown, Tmesis Theatre’s Yorgos Karamalegos and Elinor Randle, Compagnie Mangano Massip, Daphnis Kokkinos, and physical fest regular Fin Walker. All workshops will take place at The Bluecoat. For full workshop details see physicalfest.com. Watch out for street performances in Liverpool city centre on May 31 and June 1 from Conflux International Residency Programme, featuring emerging artists from across Europe. Artistic director of Physical Fest Elinor Randle said: “This will be our most exciting festival yet. It’s an honour to host the incredible Daphnis Kokkinos from Pina Bausch Tanztheater in Liverpool for the first time ever, as well as a fantastic workshop and performance programme with street theatre and brilliant local, national and international artists. It has been a particular dream of mine, since I first went to Zambia in 2010 to bring over the inspiring young acrobats I met there, so I am very happy that this dream will be met this year, and they will share their skills with people here as well as getting to take part in the amazing training programme that Physical Fest is.”