Voila! Theatre Festival

4th - 24th November

Venues: Applecart Arts, Camden People's Theatre, The Cockpit, Barons Court Theatre, The Playground Theatre, The Questors Theatre - Studio, The Space Theatre, Theatre Deli and Upstairs at The Gatehouse.

Interview with the Co - Directors of the festival Amy Clare Tasker and Katharina Reinthaller.

Q: What is the Voila! Festival?

A: A pan-lingual theatre festival and it celebrates artists, cultures and languages. We focus on work that uses multiple languages, international performance techniques and most of the work is made / performed by people with a migrant background. Most of the artists live in the UK, but they come from different backgrounds. There's a mix of cultures and stories that come to the festival. Most of the shows are in English, those that are in other languages use subtitles, sometimes in a classic way or in a different concept. There's also a lot of non-verbal shows that may use clowning, we also have a few shows that use object communication and other non-verbal concepts.

Q: What brings the shows together? Is there a theme?

A: We didn't set a theme, because languages are thematic enough and we would love to see themes emerge through the applications. There are some Voila! themes that are almost always part of the festival, like personal stories of migration are almost always featured, as that is at the front of the mind for artists whose second language is English. There's always a new take on that and everyone's story is always a little different. In the context of an always evolving London everyone's stories are always worth telling. So there are a lot of personal stories and this year there is a rise in political work, anti-fascist theatre, theatre that looks at democracy and theatre that talks about power and how language can be used as a tool of power.

There's a show Wednesday 13th November - Saturday 16th November 'Sub Titles Over' at The Space Theatre. It's set in 2017 at the time of the referendum for the 'Catalan Independence' and it focuses on activists waiting for the Spanish Police to arrive. It looks at how subtitles and translation could be a method of control or manipulation from monolingual communities. For instance, if something is happening in a language that you don't speak, you're completely reliant on the translator to tell you what is being said. Translation is a subjective art and context has a lot to do with how things can be translated and if you don't speak the original language; you're completely reliant on the translator to tell you the truth or not...

Q: How did you choose the shows for the festival and put them together?

A: This year for the first time we have a 'multi-venue' system, Voila! over the years has evolved. It was originally produced by 'The Cockpit Theatre' and was only there. The multi-venue system is new and venues get to program their own work. Although, there is not a theme we advise people to pick work you would not usually find on British stages. Amy and Katarina program the shows that are put on at The Cockpit Theatre. We had an open call, and we had a range of great applications of varied artists. There are regulars to the festival, new artists and it helps platform artists and springboard their work. There is a lot of admin to try, get everyone together and adhere to the timelines. We start planning for the festival next year in December, to get all the venues together and the dates/space.

Having the multi-venue system means we can show more work and each venue brings a different audience. Which means we can interact with different communities. The smaller venues mean we can include stage readings and work that is in progress, which is new!

Q: Where did Voila! begin?

A: In 2012 at The Cockpit Theatre. There were a few proposals from French language companies around the same time and the theatre being in West London, it had a big French speaking population. A handful of French shows were put together, put on at The Cockpit Theatre and that was where the festival began. It was a French and English bilingual festival for 4 years after that. Then, in 2017 the festival expanded, after Brexit, to all European languages and became Voila! European Festival. 2022 was our 10th anniversary year, after that we expanded out to other venues and plan the future of the festival. We also expanded the languages of the festival, made it global languages and it is now a pan-lingual festival.

Q: What is your vision for the future of the festival?

A: We want to carry on with the multi-venue system and aim to grow further in the next few years! We want to scale up the festival and keep happening. If I could dream big I would love to branch out to other cities. We also have international collaborations and we want to carry on with those.

Q: Give a few examples of the shows coming up?

A: We are trying to see all of the shows and we have a spreadsheet of who is going where and Katharina and Amy are seeing almost every show in the festival. Which is a lot. Amy is going to see 'I didn't know I was Polish' at Applecart Arts 12th November - 16th November. Caitlin the lead artist in the solo show that is about how she was living in France and tried to figure out a way to stay as a Canadian. She traces back her family to realise she could potentially get a Polish passport and take advantage of the EU agreements to stay in Europe. What's so interesting beyond her interesting story is she uses film techniques to tell the story.

Another show is 'Sharing is Caring: The European Dream' at Theatre Deli November 22nd - November 23rd. It's a show about the European political inheritance. It's set in London housing and is about multicultural squat. It brings together different stories, from different backgrounds and different cultures. It'll be interesting to hear the stories they have to tell.

If you want to get involved and watch some of these fantastic shows that Voila! Has to offer follow this link: https://www.voilafestival.co.uk