Summer YEP Fest

Young Everyman Playhouse will present two weeks of events and performances this summer for and by young people - including an outdoor production of Alice in Wonderland. YEP performances will form a major part of the city-wide youth festival Flux Liverpool, and the company will also be working in partnership with a number of other local companies including Young DaDaFest, Merseyside Youth Theatre Forum, Showrunners, Kuumba Imani, 20 Stories High, Hope St Ltd and the Bluecoat. Since spring 2012 Young Everyman Playhouse (YEP) have put on a series of ambitious projects, most recently The Grid (pictured), devised especially for the reopening of the Everyman. This summer sees the company stage a series of events throughout the city with the first YEP Fest from July 17 to August 2. From July 25 to 27, a company of 50 young people will take on Alice in Wonderland at Croxteth Hall following on from their The Wind in the Willows last year. Lewis Carroll’s story of a young girl who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar characters will be given a twist in YEP’s production, as their Alice emerges from her tent on the fourth day of the Glastonbury Festival. The play will include live music and DJs as the promenade piece roams the grounds of Croxteth Hall. YEP’s Young Producers will take to the Everyman main stage with their biggest of their regular Scene Change events to date. Taking place on July 24 and 25, the producers continue the festival vibe with jugglers, magicians and artists joining a mix of performance pieces being given short showcases by YEP’s young actors, directors and collaborators from around the city. YEP Young Writers will present the Time and Space Plays, a series of 10 minutes works, in the Everyman theatre bar on July 31. These plays, along with Alice in Wonderland and Scene Change form the Everyman and Playhouse’s contribution to Flux Liverpool; a new, pioneering arts festival engineered by young people, created for everyone that will take place in Liverpool for the first time this summer. Matt Rutter, director of Young Everyman Playhouse, said: “YEP Fest this summer represents our biggest series of events yet and it’s exciting to see so many of the different elements of YEP coming together to create theatre. It is fantastic to be part of Flux Liverpool, to be able to share what YEP is about and supporting other young people from the city.” YEP will also be collaborating on a number of projects with other Liverpool arts organisations; on July 17, Young DaDa Festival will showcase their work with young disabled and deaf artists on the Everyman main stage, while Showrunners will present their work with young people on July 22. YEP Fest will be closed by long time collaborators 20 Stories High who return with their latest production, Tales From the MP3, at the Everyman on August 1 and 2. The theatres will also be working with Merseyside Youth Theatre Development Forum who present The Big Event at the Everyman and Unity Theatre from July 18 to 20; with Hope Street Ltd on Sense and Sustainability at the Bluecoat on July 19 and the Kuumba Imani Millennium Centre on A Decade of Dedication at the Everyman on July 23. Keep tabs on them and all the action at YEP at their microsite, here.