Connecting border-busting theatre to citizens of everywhere
at The Cockpit in London, UK & Online
15 – 21 November 2021
Voila! Europe is a multilingual theatre festival produced by The Cockpit. Now in its 9th year, our curated programme of cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary performance connects independent artists and adventurous audiences.
Following the success of our entirely online Voila! festival in 2020, we are planning a hybrid festival in 2021 with performances on stage at The Cockpit in London and online everywhere. Last year showed us the resilience and ingenuity of theatre makers, and the silver lining of digital performances: reaching international audiences from Birmingham to Bordeaux via Berlin, Budapest and even Bogotá.
We want to hear your ideas for live online performances, pre-recorded shows with live watch party events, out-of-the-box proposals for digital work, AND live-on-stage theatre to be performed at The Cockpit, our 200-seat thrust or in-the-round venue in Marylebone, London. There are also opportunities to share short works-in-progress in The Cockpit’s Theatre in the Pound online scratch nights in July and November.
The Voila! Festival is a place for artists to create, to connect, and to celebrate collaboration. We support individuals and companies to make a daring leap: presenting a new piece of work, touring to a new audience, or translating a play into a new language. Our previous programmes have included cross-cultural mash-ups, adaptations, bilingual comedies, devised theatre, solo performance, puppetry, clowning, circus, dance, music, stand-up, family shows, and more.
Voila! embraces an entrepreneurial fringe model in order to platform emergent theatre: contemporary artist-led work that responds to our world with a sense of urgency. We support and mentor theatre makers to take the next steps in self-producing their work, bypassing institutional gatekeepers. Voila creates a home for artists to speak in their own voice, in their own accent, and in their own language.
Applications will be accepted until 11:59PM on 28th April, 2021.