Starting next week, Leeds will be getting its own taste of the fringe with the Little Leeds Fringe Festival, which will be running all week from Monday 23rd to Saturday 28th February.
Since it began in 2012, the Little Leeds Fringe has been one of the top highlights on the campus arts calendar. As in years past, the line up this time offers a mix of theatre, comedy, music and experimental performance pieces.
Kicking off the festival on Monday is Beautiful Failure, which will be running throughout the week in the Alec Clegg Studio in stage@leeds. Devised by two MA students, the piece is described as exploring unfinished and incomplete ideas, from the personal to the mythical and classical.
Also premiering on the first night of the festival is The Comedy Evening, a night of stand-up and sketch comedy encompassing three different events. Up first is The Leeds Tealights, with the always-reliable troupe unveiling some brand new material, followed by established student comic Job Kabamba with his show ‘HEAR ME OUT BRUH’. Finally, the Student Stand Up is a showcase of ten of the best new comedians the University of Leeds has to offer. The event starts at 6:45pm in stage@leeds.
On Tuesday and Wednesday Theatre Group will be putting on a production of blockbusting Bard classic Macbeth in Stage One (performances start at 7:30 on both nights) while the Naked Flame Theatre group will be performing an original contemporary piece called Power Play in the Alec Clegg room.
Highlights of Thursday’s events include Attempts on Margarita (Multiple Drafts), an interactive performance installation based around audience participation, which is free to enter. Meanwhile, Wonky Spoon Theatre Company will be presenting Trespass, a piece based around minimalist props which will be running until Saturday. Also running Thursday to Saturday is Anchored, a duo of social-conscience plays made in conjunction with Fall Into Place Theatre.
Rounding off the festival on Friday and Saturday are UNiSIGNED, a showcase of music acts ranging from acoustic to alt indie pop, Swipe Right, the Open Theatre Society’s examination of Tinder romance (back by popular demand after its successful run in October 2014) and 4.48 Psychosis, a “brutal” study of depression by Sarah Kane.
Tickets for all performances are available from the stage@leeds box office or online at their event listings.
Sean Hayes
Image: Little Leeds Fringe Facebook