Scratch/Night 1
Join us for an exciting evening of new writing by emerging writers. What a great way to launch this festival!
Line Up: Numb To The Bit / You Don’t Get It / Robert Krane From Chicago Illinois
Running Time: 90 mins (with breaks)
Numb To The Bit
Written & Directed by Joe Goodsall
This is a play about in-jokes. It's about how people in relationships express themselves to one-another. Everyone has theirs, in every relationship, and each one is different. Robs and Cecelia have their own, in-jokes and you’re going to see them. Every single one of them. They might not be in order, and they might not make sense, but that doesn’t matter. They make sense to Rob and Cecelia.
Running time: 25 mins
Robert Krane From Chicago Illinois
Writer: Seb Flatau
Director: Mimmi Bauer
A kidnapped oil executive has all the answers.
In the 5 stages of climate grief, rage comes before acceptance.
In a conversation between a kidnapped oil executive and his captor, the spectre of violence looms in both directions.
Oil man Robert Krane has been kidnapped. To begin negotiations, he just needs to know two things: who’s got him, and how much do they want?
But his captor is working through the five stages of climate grief, where rage comes before acceptance.
This darkly surreal dialogue highlights a truth that Robert knows too well, and that his mysterious interviewer is fated to learn: bad things happen when you drill too deep.
Running Time: 20 Mins
yOU dON’T gET it
Nick Dawkins - Writer
Izzy Edwards - Director
Francesca Fatichenti - Actor (Orla)
Nancy Salt - Actor (Yas)
Growing Up is Tough.
Two teenagers try and figure out who they want to be when they finally leave home.
Running Time: 10 Mins
Awakening the Imagined Mind in Space (ATIMIS) - Workshop
ATIMIS is a workshop that explores improvisation as a tool for devising and creative development.
Unleash your creativity with TAKDAJA's dynamic workshop Awakening the Imagined Mind in Space, perfect for all levels! Whether you're a seasoned performer or just starting out, our workshop is designed to ignite your imagination and enhance your skills in improvisation and devised theatre.
- Learn the fundamentals of improvisation in a supportive and fun environment and improve your interpersonal skills.
- Tap into your creative potential with exercises and activities designed to enhance your storytelling abilities.
- Develop original content through collaborative writing exercises.
- Discover how to create theatre scenes and characters from scratch using improv.
Join us and explore the exciting world of improvisation and devising, meet like-minded creatives, and take your performance to the next level!
Workshop Facilitators: Theodor Spiridon and Mimmi Bauer (TAKDAJA)
Running Time: 3 Hours
Tickets: Pay What You Can
Scratch/Night 2
Join us for another Scratch Night to celebrate new writing and the coming together of artists.
Line Up: A moonlit drop of your reflection / (I've got you) under my skin / It’s A Climb!
Tickets: £12
A moonlit drop of your reflection
‘Other’ Box Theatre
A moonlit drop of your reflection is a physical, spatial and sonic exploration of reflection, its iterations and dislocations.
Inspired by three paintings of the surrealist artist Remedios Varo, the project reflects on the moon as the eternal representation of an unachievable desire. Lovers gift each other the moon, witches harness her power, wolves howl at her, and yet no one can possess or capture her. Similarly, we reflect ourselves in others and they mirror back the expectations and desires we've projected onto them. This piece captures a moonlit drop of a reflection which is in opposition, which is perpendicular; the reflection which is out of step, that we recognize, the one that we wish to change or erase, the reflection that becomes disfigured, the one that shows you the truth. In this movement of space and sound, we surrender to the fact that through reflecting ourselves and on to others we try to capture in our hands that which is unattainable.
Performers: Laura Monroy-Garcia and Ariana Sacristán
Music: Daniela Mandoki
Running Time: 15 mins
(I've got you) under my skin
Dubious Co.
I'm addicted to you. Don't you know that you're toxic? A kitchen drama with a twist.
‘(I’ve got you) under my skin’ is Dubious Co.'s second devised piece in development. It is set up as a kitchen drama with which undoes itself via a process of defamiliarization and revelry. We want to explore the correlations between humanities’ normalised consumption of microplastics and codependent relationships. What are the similarities, differences in having microplastics under our skin, or a person that we somehow depend on in an unhealthy way? Can we and do we want to get rid of it/them? How?
The show will explore a toxic relationship between two people but will gradually be revealed as a representation and anthropomorphizing the inseparable relationship between humans and microplastics. To do this, we will intersperse familiar, emotive naturalism with unnatural uncanny motifs which disrupt this naturalistic relationship narrative and reveal it to be about microplastics.
We are still in exploratory phases of creating this show, but we have created a 12 minute fragment of the initial concepts that experiments the concept using physical theatre, clowning, live music, puppetry, object work and projection to tell this story.
AOIFE PALLISTER BEGADON- PERFORMER
JASPER PRICE - PERFORMER
ANNALENA LIPINSKI - (PERFORMER) & ADMIN
EMILY HAWKINS - DIRECTOR
MJ JIMENEZ - SILVA
Running Time: 20 mins
It’s A Climb!
A sharp, tender, and often funny exploration of queerness and the complexities of being seen—or not—by those closest to you.
In It’s A Climb! Morgan and Noah reunite at a local climbing centre for a long-overdue catch-up. Between the jokes, cheeky innuendos, and the ease of their close friendship, Noah begins to feel that something is off. A sharp, tender, and often funny exploration of queerness and the complexities of being seen—or not—by those closest to you.
Sofe Barker - writer, director and actor
Emily Rodríguez - actor
Running Time: 10 mins
Judith & Salome
Two performance artists are in a race to be the first in their medium to kill a man, live on stage. However, their growing desire for each other complicates their violent artistic ambitions.
Judith is an English performance artist who is looking for a creative way to fix her reputation after a “happening” goes awry (and she ends up stabbing a young man in the leg). Her publicist proposes that she start a nationwide search for a mentee, an underprivileged performance artist looking for funding and guidance to break into the scene. She encounters Salem Shelby, an artist and dancer with a controversial portfolio, and is instantly smitten. The two navigate their growing chemistry and intimacy as they dream of pushing the bounds of performance art, also navigating how much they can experiment in the medium before it becomes an act of terrorism.
This is a rehearsed reading
Written by Abigail Chase
Running Time: 1 Hour
Tickets: Pay What You Can
Side/Step Writing Days
Join us for an afternoon (or two!) of writing. Whether you’re already working on something, starting something new, or just looking to practice, we will have tea and space available for you.
These sessions will be flexible - either get on with your writing individually and just enjoy the space and company, or join in for facilitated exercises, conversations and feedback.
Writing can be a solitary process, so we aim to create a community where writers can gather, chat and learn from each other.
This is a drop in session
Tickets: Free
Side/Step x Voidspace presents: An evening in the Void
Side/Step partners with the Voidspace to bring you a selection of interactive performances, in the space where games and theatre, the playful and the profound, meet.
Join us for an evening in the Void, as Side/Step partners with the Voidspace to bring you an evening of interactive arts.
By way of a trio of gently participatory experiences we invite you to: guide us through a night of terrible decisions and self-discovery at Dalston Superstore; examine the climate crisis by way of collaboration, world-building and Godzilla; and discover how life looks from the point of view of a former monster (and maybe find out a bit more about what it is to be human in the process).
Playful, thought provoking and a little bit weird, you will leave your evening in the Void with a fresh perspective and stories to tell.
Programme:
Supersad : Ada Null
Kaiju Ecopoetics: Nick Murray
Support Group for the Newly Human: Chloe Mashiter
Production Team: Katy Naylor & Rebecca Hampson
Running Time: 2 hours (with interval)
Tickets: £12
Adapting Images Into Theatre - Workshop
In 2023, Deadweight Theatre created RUBBERNECKS, an adaptation of a series of Edward Hopper Paintings that was set and performed in the very location this workshop will take place. This workshop explores the intersection between theatre and visual art. It is an insight into the process used to create the performance and aims to equip theatre-makers with new ways of creating work through a visual approach.
During the workshop we will look at two essential elements of adapting images into theatre - Character & Space. We will look at ways to explore both those elements separately, focusing on narrative building, scenography and composition, before bringing everything together to make small fragments of work.
This is a hands on workshop open to all levels. Please bring paper and a pen with you.
Dominika Uçar is the artistic director of Side/Step Festival and co-founder of Deadweight Theatre. She studied Fine Art at the University of Edinburgh before completing a Masters in Advanced Theatre Practice at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She specialises in interactive work and has a deep interest in the use of humour as a political tool as well as the blurring of lines between theatre and visual art. Alongside directing, she is also a freelance producer on projects such as the award winning The Manikins, and is currently working on the ACE funded production, Roadside, at Trinity Bristol and The Cockpit Theatre.
Length: 3 Hours
Tickets: Pay What You Can
Skírnismál
Girl, at your desire; girl, at my desire.
The place: Jötunheimr. The time: lost and legendary. The situation: that guy at a bar that just won’t leave you alone.
Freyr is in a slump: he loves a girl he’s never met. However, all is not lost! Skírnír is the ultimate wingman. Give him a sword, a horse, and eleven golden apples and he can win her over – but what begins as a story of masculine comradery quickly descends into an all-too-familiar situation of misogyny and coercion.
In a new translation of the Old Norse poem, Skírnismál draws a line from Viking honour culture straight to the rhetoric of the modern alt-right.
Translated by Amber Williams
Co directed by James Christensen and Amber Williams
Running Time: 30 Mins
Tickets: £9
Inara's Banquet
An ancient ritual, revived.
Inara’s Banquet is a segment of the Hittite myth of Illuyanka, revived as an immersive, interactive performance.
Cosmic order in the Anatolian heartland has been corrupted. At the root of it all lie the maleficent activities of the demon snake, Illuyanka.
Tensions at the dinner table run high when Inara, the Hittite goddess of the hunt, challenges him to a battle.
Whose side will you choose?
Jet Vellinga - creator and director
Running Time: 40 mins
Tickets: £12
Uncle Barry's Birthday Party
You are invited to share an evening with us in celebration of our dear Uncle Barry...
Date: Tuesday 18th February
Time: 8.45pm
Venue: 102 Upper Street
Dietary requirements: Please inform the hosts in advance if you have any dietary requirements or allergies. (Email: Mia.Foster@cssd.ac.uk)
Dress code: Wear whatever you want
Our guests ought to know that interactions will occur at this party, as they do at any, and ours will involve some light touch. If this will make you uncomfortable, please feel free to decline this invitation.
However, if you want to hug cake and eat friends, please join us! We would love to have you, and know Uncle Barry would too.
Mia Foster - Director/theatre-maker
Ariana Aragon - Director/theatre-maker
Molly Meleady-Hanley - Performer/theatre-maker
Laura Monroy - Performer/theatre-maker
Ariana Sacristan-Benjet - Performer/theatre-maker
Ali Yuraw (Yuan-Ling, Chen) - Performer/theatre-maker
Flora Lester - Performer/theatre-maker
Bailey Dowler - Performer/theatre-maker
Morgan Brame - Performer/theatre-maker
Emma Cantor - Scenographer
Running Time: 45 mins
Tickets: £12
Side/Step Writing Days
Join us for an afternoon (or two!) of writing. Whether you’re already working on something, starting something new, or just looking to practice, we will have tea and space available for you.
These sessions will be flexible - either get on with your writing individually and just enjoy the space and company, or join in for facilitated exercises, conversations and feedback.
Writing can be a solitary process, so we aim to create a community where writers can gather, chat and learn from each other.
This is a drop in session
Tickets: Free
The Window Project
A multimedia performance exploring the delicate line between private realm and public gaze - where what’s hidden becomes seen, and the seen reshapes the hidden.
"The Window Project" blends live film and physical theatre to explore the themes of intimacy and restriction. A camera acts as both storyteller and intruder, capturing how private moments transform under public gaze. This work-in-progress invites a renegotiation of personal space and our space in relation to others, questioning how identity, consent, and relationships are redefined when the boundaries between private and public blur.
Amalia Paschalidi: Performer, co-creator
Nikos Lekakis: Director, performer
Ellen Wiltshire: Performer
Running Time: 30 mins
Tickets: £8
Untitled Box Play
A short play about love and other horrors.
Think outside the box. Vessel of her womb. Coffin. Cooking pot. Pigeonholed. Pandora's box.
Stella's life isn't where she thought it would be. Work is shit, money is shit, the flat is shit – but Casper seems nice, and she would like, if possible, to have one normal date.
The problem isn't her. It's Traalkug. The rude and unwanted eldritch horror that lives in a box she isn't able to put down.
Using puppetry, absurdism, and the long history of putting women into boxes, Untitled Box Play explores what we pack away in order to move through the world; in order to love and be loved.
Devised by Tina Bagia and Amber Williams
AMBER WILLIAMS - director
TINA BAGIA - Stella
ANDREW MALIK - Casper
Running Time: 45 mins
Tickets: £12
Creature - Show Pitch
A producers pitch for Creature by Peter Broughton, an intimate, immersive re-imagining of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein with soundscapes and puppet design.
Creature is an immersive, one-on-one theatrical experience re-imagining Victor Frankenstein’s wedding night. Kidnapped by his monstrous creation, the audience steps into Victor’s shoes, confronting the Creature in a chilling narrative that shifts from magical to harrowing. Through evocative soundscapes, haunting visuals, and a grotesque puppet, the show explores themes of creation, abandonment, and vengeance. This producer’s pitch will offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the vision, including mood boards, puppet design, soundscapes, and live demonstrations, showcasing the immersive potential of Creature.
If you would like to support this project, check out this Kickstarter.
Running Time: 20 Mins
Tickets: Free
Scenographic Performance Laboratory: Bauhaus/Lecoq - Workshop
A workshop to explore the intersection of the experimental scenographic performance pedagogies of Oskar Schlemmer’s Bauhuas Theatre and Jacques Lecoq’s L.E.M. (Laboratory for the Study of Movement) in response to the architectural site, 102 Upper Street. We will explore the three fundamental principles of space, form and colour, and investigate the different and overlapping ways that each pedagogy approaches these elements. We will be researching and responding to the dynamic of the architectural space through our bodies, through mark-making and through the creation of structural forms using simple materials.
Workshop facilitator: Emma Wagstaff, Emballage Ensemble
I am a scenographer, performance maker and art historian excited by the convergence of the three. I make formally-innovative, research-driven projects often led by materials. I am co-artistic director of the theatre company, Emballage Ensemble. I facilitate performance making workshops and also teach art history in museums and galleries around Europe. I hold a BA in History of Art from University College London, an MFA in Advanced Theatre Practice from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and I trained on the experimental scenography course (LEM) at the Jacques Lecoq School in Paris.
Running Time: 3 hours
Tickets: Pay What You Can
Skírnismál
Girl, at your desire; girl, at my desire.
The place: Jötunheimr. The time: lost and legendary. The situation: that guy at a bar that just won’t leave you alone.
Freyr is in a slump: he loves a girl he’s never met. However, all is not lost! Skírnír is the ultimate wingman. Give him a sword, a horse, and eleven golden apples and he can win her over – but what begins as a story of masculine comradery quickly descends into an all-too-familiar situation of misogyny and coercion.
In a new translation of the Old Norse poem, Skírnismál draws a line from Viking honour culture straight to the rhetoric of the modern alt-right.
Translated by Amber Williams
Co directed by James Christensen and Amber Williams
Running Time: 30 Mins
Tickets: £9
Side/Step Presents: An Evening of Short Films
Side/Step is excited to celebrate emerging filmmakers and the coming together of artistic disciplines.
Line Up: Our Day / B-Roll / An Eighth Of Him / TBC
Running Time: 2 Hours (with Interval)
Tickets: £12
Our Day
This coming of age romcom, takes place in the heartbeat of Accra, where David overcomes hurdles, to meet the girl of dreams Esther, with the help of his best friend Kofi.
Akua Abedi - Boafo - Director & Producer & Casting
Effe Hozaifeh - Writer & Casting
Vincent Okih - Assistant Director
Destinee Poole - Writer, Co Producer & Casting
Aaliyah Roberts - Writer
M. Abdul Majeed - Editor
Michael Gills - Director of Photography
AAB Productions - Production Company
Running Time: 20 Mins
An Eighth Of Him
Over the course of a year, a stoic drug dealer in south London forms an unexpected relationship with a buyer, inside the safe sanctuary of his car.
Introductions, an eighth of marijuana, and money... And Kadell, the dealer, watches Ade walk away. His phone rings, jolting him back to reality, and he drives away. Months go by, and Kadell continues selling Ade marijuana. When Ade enters Kadell's car on a rainy night, he's drenched. Before leaving, Kadell informs Ade that he can stay till the rain stops and smoke a joint while they wait. Kadell rolls a joint while they continue to converse and become comfortable with one another.
Levi Aluede (Director), Samson Ajewole (Writer/Actor), Dami Adeyeye (Producer), Jason Lamarr Ricketts (Actor), Samira Oberberg (Cinematographer)
Running Time: 11 mins
B-Roll
You mess this one up and you're finished with us.
Rachel follows people for money. But she keeps messing it up. Now on thin ice with her handler Daniella, Rachel must follow a man named Tom and make sure he does not notice her, or she's out.
A film by Nathaniel Brimmer-Beller, starring Natassia Bustamante, Amy Wallace, Laurie Duncan, and Rosie Hart, and partially filmed, with thanks, in La Farola Café.
Nathaniel Brimmer-Beller - Writer, Director, Editor, Camera
Natassia Bustamante - Rachel
Amy Wallace - Daniella
Laurie Duncan - Tom
Rosie Hart - Wilma
Dominika Uçar - Additional Camerawork
Running Time: 22 mins
TBC…
The Window Project
A multimedia performance exploring the delicate line between private realm and public gaze - where what’s hidden becomes seen, and the seen reshapes the hidden.
"The Window Project" blends live film and physical theatre to explore the themes of intimacy and restriction. A camera acts as both storyteller and intruder, capturing how private moments transform under public gaze. This work-in-progress invites a renegotiation of personal space and our space in relation to others, questioning how identity, consent, and relationships are redefined when the boundaries between private and public blur.
Amalia Paschalidi: Performer, co-creator
Nikos Lekakis: Director, performer
Ellen Wiltshire: Performer
Running Time: 30 mins
Tickets: £8
Untitled Box Play
A short play about love and other horrors.
Think outside the box. Vessel of her womb. Coffin. Cooking pot. Pigeonholed. Pandora's box.
Stella's life isn't where she thought it would be. Work is shit, money is shit, the flat is shit – but Casper seems nice, and she would like, if possible, to have one normal date.
The problem isn't her. It's Traalkug. The rude and unwanted eldritch horror that lives in a box she isn't able to put down.
Using puppetry, absurdism, and the long history of putting women into boxes, Untitled Box Play explores what we pack away in order to move through the world; in order to love and be loved.
Devised by Tina Bagia and Amber Williams
AMBER WILLIAMS - director
TINA BAGIA - Stella
ANDREW MALIK - Casper
Running Time: 45 mins
Tickets: £12
Inara's Banquet
An ancient ritual, revived.
Inara’s Banquet is a segment of the Hittite myth of Illuyanka, revived as an immersive, interactive performance.
Cosmic order in the Anatolian heartland has been corrupted. At the root of it all lie the maleficent activities of the demon snake, Illuyanka.
Tensions at the dinner table run high when Inara, the Hittite goddess of the hunt, challenges him to a battle.
Whose side will you choose?
Jet Vellinga - creator and director
Running Time: 40 mins
Tickets: £12
Devil In The Details
Devil in the Details is an interactive performance by Dystopian Sock Puppets about creating art while ravaged by deep dark secrets.
A family comes together to perform a powerful ritual. In order to keep living their extravagant lifestyle, they must pledge themselves to a dark and mysterious power. Using an ancient first edition of the Picture of Dorian Grey, they've found a way to store hardships into a portrait. However, with any boon comes dangerous consequences.
In alternating scenes, audience members will switch between playing members of the family and playing the devils that emerge from their portraits. As family members, participants will interact with one another, while as devils participants will engage in art-making. The progression of the art will reflect the progression of the characters.
Hazel Dixon - Creator and Facilitator
Usva Inei - Creator
Running Time: 2 hours
Tickets: £12
Late Night Submarine
That submarine will always be hovering in my deep blue dreams.
Late Night Submarine is an immersive theatre experience that explores the space between memory and dreams. Inspired by the novel Nighttime Submarine, it follows a young protagonist escaping reality through an imagined underwater journey. Using soundscapes, silent disco technology, and dynamic lighting, the audience is guided through fragmented memories and dreamlike spaces, creating a deeply introspective and poetic experience.
Yaqi Sun (Creator), Zoe Xie (producer, technical assistance), Ali Chen (Actress)
Running Time: 15 mins
Tickets: £7
Late Night Submarine
That submarine will always be hovering in my deep blue dreams.
Late Night Submarine is an immersive theatre experience that explores the space between memory and dreams. Inspired by the novel Nighttime Submarine, it follows a young protagonist escaping reality through an imagined underwater journey. Using soundscapes, silent disco technology, and dynamic lighting, the audience is guided through fragmented memories and dreamlike spaces, creating a deeply introspective and poetic experience.
Yaqi Sun (Creator), Zoe Xie (producer, technical assistance), Ali Chen (Actress)
Running Time: 15 mins
Tickets: £7
Only Exit
a practice / performance / installation which troubles the rules of wayfinding.
ONLY EXIT is existing as a performance practice / installation which troubles the rules of wayfinding. The project is a continuation of Camden and Angela’s spatial practice and research on [EXIT] signage, the collision of found space and public space in performance, and the utilization of wearable apparatus in performance. Positioning themes of performing anarchy, anarchitecture, and pleasure in transgressive protest, ONLY EXIT aims to invite audience / group / public to participate in the unmaking of the binary of direction and misdirection; to observe and make mischief happen; to work with and not for wayfinding directives.
Camden Barrett (they/them) and Angela Rauf (she/her) are co-collaborators.
Running Time: 30 mins
Tickets: £8
Only Exit
a practice / performance / installation which troubles the rules of wayfinding.
ONLY EXIT is existing as a performance practice / installation which troubles the rules of wayfinding. The project is a continuation of Camden and Angela’s spatial practice and research on [EXIT] signage, the collision of found space and public space in performance, and the utilization of wearable apparatus in performance. Positioning themes of performing anarchy, anarchitecture, and pleasure in transgressive protest, ONLY EXIT aims to invite audience / group / public to participate in the unmaking of the binary of direction and misdirection; to observe and make mischief happen; to work with and not for wayfinding directives.
Camden Barrett (they/them) and Angela Rauf (she/her) are co-collaborators.
Running Time: 30 mins
Tickets: £8
Wrap Show: Closing performances
We are over the moon to share with you our closing performances. Join us for a really exciting evening, featuring work from Vomiton, Douglas Rennie and Joe Goodall.
Fun. Chaos. Electricity.
Running Time: 2h 15min (with interval)
Tickets: £12
Numb To The Bit
50% of this play is about a young couple in love. The other 50% is also about that young couple in love.
This is a play about in-jokes. It's about how people in relationships express themselves to one-another. Everyone has theirs, in every relationship, and each one is different. Robs and Cecelia have their own, in-jokes and you’re going to see them. Every single one of them. They might not be in order, and they might not make sense, but that doesn’t matter. They make sense to Rob and Cecelia.
Written & Directed by Joe Goodsall
Running Time: 30 mins
Silly Lilly’s
"Face to face, Head to head, hoof to hoof…"
Walkabout puppet, mask creators, panto horse trotters, Vomiton present...
Silly Lilly's....
Kiera from Vomiton - Panto Horse creation
Callum & Kiera - Audio
Running Time: 10 mins
Bucket
A work-in-progress play about trying to do the right thing, for three actors and one rat.
Bucket is a story about a couple – Lou and Freddie – trying to put an injured rat out of its misery. They’re living in the old farmhouse of Lou’s mum Angela, who moved out following the traumatic death of her husband. Angela’s coming back to visit for the first time since he died, and now she’s got her own ideas about the meaning of suffering. It’s a play about cruelty, cowardice, and what it means to care for someone. This work-in-progress reading is the first chance to hear it.
This is a rehearsed reading.
Written by Douglas Rennie
Running Time: 1 hour