The return of Physical Fest

THE 'dark art' of a juggling troupe, an acclaimed Japanese performance artist in residence, something for children and a definitely adults-only date with a private eye called Butt Kapinski... the weird and wonderful world of Physical Fest has it all.Now, the countdown is on to its return after a year away.Organisers Tmesis decided to take a year out to refocus the festival - one of the leading physical theatre events of its kind in Europe - and are coming back with a compact, six-day event with a female-focussed programme of local, national and international performers.Physical Fest will take over the Unity Theatre from June 10 to 15, as well as venturing out further afield to The Capstone Theatre at Liverpool Hope University and the Royal Albert Dock for a special outdoor performance.Artistic director Elinor Randle says the break has really helped to establish the things that have worked best about the festival in the past, and explore the ways they can work with the talent involved.“It’s such a unique festival, and this year is different but also really exciting,” she says. “We wanted to give it more of a festival ‘feel’, to make it more compact, and to try and grow our local, national and international audience as well. We just looked at the elements that were the most important to keep in."Tmesis runs its own training company – which will be performing an outdoor piece, Wicked Women, at the Albert Dock – but wanted to develop its support for artists further. For the first time Physical Fest programme contains an international artist in residence.Izumi Ashizawa (pictured above) who incorporates traditional Japanese performance styles and puppetry into her work, brings her show I Cried Because I Had No Shoes Until...' to the Unity and will be mentoring local talent during her stay.“One of the main things for us is connecting people, and that happens in different ways,” says Elinor. “For the first time, we have an international residency artist – we decided that if we are bringing them over, we want them to work and connect in the city, and be willing to mentor bursary artists.“We have supported so many artists and companies, and have become a bit of a one-stop shop for people wanting funding advice. This year we had two bursaries for female artists with a larger grant and mentoring [which went to] Rowena Gander and Meraki Collective, who just had a brilliant idea for a show.”And so, Manchester-based Meraki will showcase their new dance theatre work Kill a Witch or Die Trying, whilst Liverpool dancer and choreographer Rowena Gander explores the extrinsic value of sexualised and exaggerated femininity in her new piece The Ten Inch Heels.“Tmesis is a female-led company and that was a decision we made for a lot of our work going forward anyway, to make a bigger impact,” Elinor says. “It can be quite difficult to find female-led work, and I think the reason for this is it is easy for men to access this kind of performance, whereas women tend to move towards dance.”Other shows that will be worth catching include Gandini Juggling’s mindboggling Smashed (see trailer above), and a children’s show from Physical Fest regular Jamie Wood."If you keep going year after year, it’s hard to change anything, you get into a pattern," says Elinor of the decision to make the event a biennial one."Physical Fest needed to be bolder in its focus and themes, and it feels good to give it another element. Everything we have put calls out for we have had lots of interest in. It’s been refreshing."In addition to the packed line-up of performances, Physical Fest will also feature an exciting programme of workshops, with practitioners from Japan, USA, Finland and the UK providing training on a variety of physical theatre disciplines, as well as a Devoted & Disgruntled open space event discussing female leadership in the arts (Tmesis already facilitates the monthly Mothers Who Make networking sessions in the city).“The variety is what’s special about the festival, everything from dance theatre to clowning,” says Elinor. “The mix of local, national and international is always good, and to have that local engagement and chance to mix is very important to create new opportunities.”Check the Physical Fest website for more info.