Mayfest returns to Bristol this spring

Tuesday, 24th March 2009

Following a hugely successful festival in 2008, where Mayfest became a city-wide event, this year it returns to a resurgent Bristol Old Vic, who are co-producing the festival, as well as the Tobacco Factory, Circomedia, the Wickham Theatre and site-specific venues across the city.

From the Georgian splendour of Bristol Old Vic’s Theatre Royal to the corridors of a hotel, a run-down office and onto the streets of Bristol, this year’s festival is busier than ever. It all kicks off in style with a launch party at Bristol Old Vic featuring a specially-created piece from one of Bristol’s finest bands The Master Chaynjis, and genre-defying performance from Baltimore’s Lexie Mountain Boys.

Over the first weekend of the festival Birmingham-based company The Other Way Works bring their intriguing performance Black Tonic (1 – 4 May) to the Mercure Holland House Hotel and Spa. Audiences check into the hotel and journey through the corridors and into the bedrooms to piece together clues in a dark detective story.

On Sunday 3rd and Monday 4th May, Bristol Old Vic hosts Taste, a feast of brand new local work from over twenty of Bristol’s most exciting theatre artists.

Over at the Tobacco Factory Theatre there is top-notch national and international work throughout the festival. Included within the performances is the maverick New York composer and theatre artist John Moran… and his Neighbour Saori (5 – 6 May) and Chris Goode, with a new solo performance called The Adventures of Wound Man and Shirley (12 – 13 May), which combines intimate story-telling, animation and music into a comic-book, super-hero story about growing up and getting braver.

At Bristol Old Vic, Mayfest is taking over the whole building. Belgian company Ontroerend Goed bring their smash hit The Smile Off Your Face (6 – 7 May), an intensely thrilling experience which has wowed audiences around the world. In the Theatre Royal, Leeds based company imitating the dog will perform Kellerman (11 – 13 May), a visually-arresting show which uses film, animation and live action.

In the Studio, Czech company Adriatic bring their haunting, physical theatre piece Polaris (5 – 7 May), whilst on the stage of the Theatre Royal, another Czech company Skutr perform their critically acclaimed piece The Weepers (15 – 16 May). Inspector Sands make a welcome return to Mayfest with If That’s All There Is (8 – 9 May) following their 2007 hit Hysteria, there’s local work from Bric-a-Brac Production and Soap Soup Theatre and clowning from The Honk Project (10 May). Bristol-based artist Edward Rapley presents the second part of a trilogy of pieces called The Middle Bit (15 May), developed in association with Mayfest, and on the final day of the festival, Mayfest hands over the baton to Battersea Arts Centre’s BURST festival with Overlap (16 May) where artists in London and Bristol will collaborate on short performances which will be relayed live between the two festivals.

Producers Matthew Austin and Kate Yedigaroff said: “Mayfest 2009 is bigger than ever. We’re really pleased to be returning to Bristol Old Vic, and we’re continuing to build relationships with artists, companies, venues and audiences across Bristol and the UK. Ticket prices are low, we’re running some great special offers and this really is our hottest line-up yet, so we hope people will dive in and feel part of something.”