TAKE ME SOMEWHERE 2025
15–26 October · Glasgow and everywhere
We moved, sweat, feasted, danced, promised, revolted. We baked bread, got wet and wild, were tucked into bed, marvelled at suspended wrestlers, made public vows, sat in church pews and ate so much cake.
The 2025 edition ran across eleven Glasgow venues over twelve days. The work came from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Lebanon, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, the USA and the UK. Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim's asses.masses ran seven hours with intermissions and lunch included, a custom video game about a donkey revolution played from beginning to end by the audience, taking turns at the controller. Ontroerend Goed's Handle with Care arrived as a box in the post and was performed entirely by the people who came to watch it. Daniel Kok and Luke George tied up local wrestlers in rope and suspended them above the mat. Tania El Khoury put ten people at a time head-first into her family's boxes at the CCA.
Tiziano Cruz hosted an afternoon in Civic House baking bread, and then performed Wayqeycuna at Platform, where that bread went on stage. Lukas Avendaño danced Bardaje in the pews of St Ninian's and Requiem para un Alcaraván at Boardwalk at noon. Doris Uhlich brought Susanne Kirnbauer-Bundy, a former principal of the Vienna State Opera now in her eighties, to dance a body that ballet had no place for.
The Scottish work held its own. Jo Hauge's self insert outside fan spiral (on ice), a Take Me Somewhere commission, staged a figure skating event on real fake ice. Craig Manson's SELKIE dared you to enter the splash zone. 21Common's Regina Caeli was a eulogy in spatial audio for Lucy Gaizely's father, made with her partner of twenty-three years. Shawn Nayar's The Mongrel questioned covered histories. And Christine Thynne, in her eightieth year, made her first show with stepladders, electronics and water.
The Programme
Mon 13 Oct · Tramway café
CRIP COFFEE MORNING – Dan Daw Creative Projects (UK)
An informal space for d/Deaf, Disabled or Neurodivergent artists to gather together and make some space for each other.
CRIP COFFEE MORNING – Dan Daw Creative Projects (UK)
An informal space for d/Deaf, Disabled or Neurodivergent artists to gather together and make some space for each other.
Crip Coffee Morning is an informal space for d/Deaf, Disabled or Neurodivergent artists to gather together, make some space for each other and meet one another – it’s a chance to talk about what you want to talk about or simply be in a shared space with fellow d/Deaf, Disabled or Neurodivergent artists.
Access, as published in 2025
BSL interpreted. Wheelchair accessible. Seating: couches, chairs and beanbags available. RSVP required at least two days before the event, including any access needs.
Credits
Hosted by Dan Daw Creative Projects.
Wed 15 & Thu 16 Oct · Tramway T4
SELF INSERT OUTSIDE FAN SPIRAL (ON ICE) – Jo Hauge (Scotland/Norway)
A live action figure skating fan fiction, a totally real figure skating event made up of lots of pleasurable neurodivergent overwhelm.
SELF INSERT OUTSIDE FAN SPIRAL (ON ICE) – Jo Hauge (Scotland/Norway)
A live action figure skating fan fiction, a totally real figure skating event made up of lots of pleasurable neurodivergent overwhelm.
Self insert outside fan spiral (on ice) is a live action figure skating fan fiction / a totally real figure skating event made up of lots of pleasurable neurodivergent overwhelm. Here are some facts about figure skating: there are no facts in figure skating only very strong opinions. A spiral is when you glide on one blade for a long time either forwards or backwards with the other foot raised. A fan spiral is a back outside edge spiral where the legs look like the edges of a fan if it was a really dangerous fan made from legs.
(on ice) takes place on an amplified piece of real fake ice and like any real figure skating event includes a six minute warm-up, Carmens, Boleros, Swan Lakes, Phantoms, lifts, quadruple Axels, alien mpreg, crystals, illusion mesh, bears, short programmes, medium programmes, long programmes, and several ice resurfacing breaks. The ice resurfacing machine is probably the best figure skater of all time. His name is Zamboni and he makes the ice with his teeth and his liquids and he’s sooooo sexy.
Access, as published in 2025
CC | AD | R. Integrated closed captions. Live audio description via headsets, reserved in advance. The performance encourages masks, with an air purifier running and FFP2 masks available. Relaxed performance elements: permission to leave and re-enter, to move, tic, stim or make noise. Access introduction before the performance. Breakout space available. Ear defenders, ear plugs and dark glasses available to borrow. Changing Places toilet on 15 October. Wheelchair accessible, with step-free seating options.
Credits
Made by Jo Hauge in collaboration with sound designer Nicol Parkinson. Producer and access support: Siân Baxter. Movement direction and movement dramaturgy: Emma Lewis-Jones. R&D movement direction: Aby Watson. Prop design and dramaturgical support: Mamoru Iriguchi. Costume design: Saira Harvey. Lighting design: Michaella Fee. Production manager: Lee Davis. A Take Me Somewhere commission made with support from Creative Scotland, Tramway and National Theatre of Scotland. Photos: Tiu Makkonen.
Wed 15 Oct · Tramway T1
EXXY – Dan Daw (UK/Australia)
An epic and tender journey back to where Dan Daw began – working class, with very little.
EXXY – Dan Daw (UK/Australia)
An epic and tender journey back to where Dan Daw began – working class, with very little.
How do you continue to value yourself when society doesn’t value you?
EXXY (Aussie slang for ‘that’s expensive, mate’) takes us on an epic and tender journey back to where Dan Daw began – working class, with very little.
Told through a combination of remarkable stagecraft, movement and storytelling, EXXY propels Dan into the spotlight on an audacious and vulnerable quest to live in the world fearlessly.
Joined on stage by three performers who walk and talk like him, watch as Dan finds comfort in the possibility of finally blending in, after a lifetime of standing out.
★★★★ “Certainly, Daw’s show is unlike anything else you are likely to see” – Guardian
★★★★ “Unapologetic, vulnerable, brilliant” – The Stage
Access, as published in 2025
CC | R | SP | AD | BSL | TT. Integrated closed captions. Creatively audio described via headsets. Touch tour at 19:15, booked in advance. BSL interpretation by Karen Forbes. Subpacs available from Tramway box office. Relaxed performance elements: audiences can leave and re-enter, and are welcome to move, tic, stim or make noise; visual guide of performers available; breakout space before, during and after; ear defenders, ear plugs and dark glasses available to borrow. Pre-show access table 17:00–19:45 in the Tramway foyer, drop in. T1 Tramway, ground floor, wheelchair accessible. Padded seats with arms, one row step free, wheelchair spaces available. Changing Places toilet available on 15 October. Guide and assistance dogs welcome.
Credits
Co-commissioned by Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Battersea Arts Centre, Transform, Take Me Somewhere and Tramway for the New Dimensions commission. Additionally co-commissioned by Fabric, Kampnagel, Sadler’s Wells, SICK! Festival and Les Halles. Supported by Arts Council England and Cockayne 10th Anniversary Grants for the Arts. R&D supported by an Unlimited Strategic Award 2023. Co-produced by Battersea Arts Centre. Photography: Hugo Glendinning.
Thu 16 Oct · The Boardwalk
INDUSTRY DAY – Take Me Somewhere (Scotland)
Scottish artist pitches, a networking lunch, and Handle With Care – invite only, with priority given to programmers and curators.
INDUSTRY DAY – Take Me Somewhere (Scotland)
Scottish artist pitches, a networking lunch, and Handle With Care – invite only, with priority given to programmers and curators.
Take Me Somewhere’s Industry Day brought programmers, curators and artists together for a day of pitches and performance at The Boardwalk. Attendance was invite only, with priority given to programmers and curators; the networking lunch was open to the wider Scottish performance industry and separately ticketed.
The day ran: 10:00 arrival and coffees, with ZU-UK’s EVERYTHING IS BURNING; 11:00 Scottish artist pitches; 12:30 lunch; 14:00 Scottish artist pitches; 15:00 and 16:00 Handle With Care or ZU-UK’s EVERYTHING IS BURNING, with attendees allocated a slot.
Scottish artists pitching: Thulani Rachia (The Land Wants Us Back), Rosana Cade, Ivor MacAskill, Tim Spooner and Yas Clarke (NOW NOT NOW), 21Common (Regina Caeli), Kirstin Halliday (Desert Whiptail Grassland Lizards) and Mele Broomes (Dictations).
Access, as published in 2025
Captioned on request.
Credits
Supported by the British Council and Impact Arts.
Thu 16 – Sat 18 Oct · CCA
CULTURAL EXCHANGE RATE – Tania El Khoury (USA/Lebanon)
The audience is invited to immerse their heads into one family’s secret boxes to explore traces of more than a century of border crossings.
CULTURAL EXCHANGE RATE – Tania El Khoury (USA/Lebanon)
The audience is invited to immerse their heads into one family’s secret boxes to explore traces of more than a century of border crossings.
Cultural Exchange Rate is an interactive live art project in which artist Tania El Khoury shares her family memoirs of life in a border village between Lebanon and Syria. One marked by war survival, valueless currency collection, brief migration to Mexico, and a river that disregards the colonial and national borders.
The audience is invited to immerse their heads into one family’s secret boxes to explore the sounds, images, and textures of traces of more than a century of border crossings. Cultural Exchange Rate is based on the artist’s recorded interviews with her late grandmother, oral histories collected in her village in Akkar, the discovery of lost relatives in Mexico City, and the family’s attempt to secure dual citizenship.
Access, as published in 2025
Interactive self-led experience for ten people at a time. One wheelchair accessible and lower-height route available. Participation includes currency exchange, unlocking cabinets, handling artefacts, video and audio, and reading in English. Front of house guides assist with fine motor skills. Unseated with some chairs available. Sensory notes: scents and fragrance, nut allergen (almonds), small particle dust (baby powder), tactile artwork, audience participation. Language: Arabic and English with English subtitles.
Credits
Production design: Petra Abousleiman. Research: Ziad Abu-Rish, May Haider, Mariam Saada, Alexander Mayagoitia. Sound design: Fadi Tabbal. Graphic design: Jana Traboulsi. Live video editing: Ali Beidoun. Cinematography: Luke Bryant, Tania El Khoury. Spanish translation: Ziad Chakaroun. Archives: El Khoury Family Papers (Lebanon and Mexico), Archivo General de la Nación (México), SRE Acervo Histórico Diplomático (México). Produced by Bard Fisher Center, Spielart Festival and Onassis Stegi. Photos: Argenis Apolinario, Ziad Abu-Rish, Tania El Khoury.
Thu 16 Oct · The Boardwalk / Thu 23 Oct · Platform
HANDLE WITH CARE – Ontroerend Goed (Belgium)
No actors, no technicians. Just a box. And you.
HANDLE WITH CARE – Ontroerend Goed (Belgium)
No actors, no technicians. Just a box. And you.
No actors, no technicians. Just a box. And you. A box is mailed to the theatre. The instructions are clear: Invite a group of people, on a specific night, at a specific time. Let the audience take their seats. Place the box at the centre of the stage. The audience is waiting. And then an audience member stands up and opens the box. The show has started.
In Handle with Care, Ontroerend Goed puts you in control. We provide the structure; you shape the experience. Choose your role – take the lead or observe as others make choices that steer the performance in unexpected directions. Together, you create something special: a shared experience filled with reflections on time, transience, and togetherness. And don’t worry – there are no wrong choices in Handle with Care. You’ve got this.
For one hour, you’ll live something unique, fleeting, and unrepeatable. Here. Now. Together. No one is watching. What is yours, stays yours. Take good care of it. And send us a postcard.
Access, as published in 2025
BSL interpreter on 23 October. Performed entirely by the audience, with the option of refusal. Both venues wheelchair accessible. Hearing loop at The Boardwalk. Wheelchair spaces available. Audiences can leave and re-enter throughout.
Credits
Concept and creation: Alexander Devriendt, Karolien De Bleser, Samir Veen, Leonore Spee & Charlotte De Bruyne. Design: Nick Mattan & Edouard Devriendt. Production team: Leda Decleyre, Lynn Van den Bergh, Willie-Marie Hermans & Hannes Pieters. Assembly: Jana Vos, Emma Verhaegen, Roos-Marie De Schryver, Juta Donckers. Photography: Ans Brys & Joëlle Desmet. Video: Aaron Denolf. Production: Ontroerend Goed.
Thu 16 & Fri 17 Oct · Strange Field
THE MONGREL – Shawn Nayar (Scotland)
Live vocals entwine with abrasive choreographic arrangements, layering to erupt as violent cathartic releases.
THE MONGREL – Shawn Nayar (Scotland)
Live vocals entwine with abrasive choreographic arrangements, layering to erupt as violent cathartic releases.
The figure of the Mongrel emerges from British Imperial rule where the Empire, fearing the ‘mongrelization’ of the white race, isolated Anglo-Indians from both British and Indian communities. These imperial orderings bind the rippling contours of the Mongrel’s body and carry mangled histories of exclusion and resistance.
This performance work navigates the contradictory narratives that emerge when tracing Anglo-Indian and mixed race histories, placing physically intense choreography within the spectacle of a ritual to confront this conflicting tale of ancestry. Live vocals entwine with abrasive choreographic arrangements, layering to erupt as violent cathartic releases – acts of radical self-care that seek to upturn and disrupt colonial legacies.
Access, as published in 2025
AD | TT. Live creative audio description via headsets. Touch tour 30 minutes prior, booked with an audio described ticket. Wheelchair accessible ground floor venue. Immersive seating in the round: 50 seats, 10 standing places. Sensory notes: loud music, smoke, fog or haze, scent (natural jasmine), tactile artwork, allergen (coconut oil, on stage only).
Credits
Artistic direction and lead performer: Shawn Nayar. Vocal dramaturg and performer: Mira Kazak. Stage and instrument design: Theodora Koumbouzis. Production manager: Anissa Parquin. Sound engineer: Sam Annand. Producer: MC Laffitte. Dramaturg and choreography consultant: Nxa Parinussa. Photos: Tiu Makkonen.
Fri 17 Oct · CCA
INDUSTRY BREAKFAST: NOVA SCOTIA RECEPTION – with a delegation from Nova Scotia (Canada)
Coffee, conversation and waffles – Scottish artists and cultural workers meeting a delegation of performance makers from Nova Scotia.
INDUSTRY BREAKFAST: NOVA SCOTIA RECEPTION – with a delegation from Nova Scotia (Canada)
Coffee, conversation and waffles – Scottish artists and cultural workers meeting a delegation of performance makers from Nova Scotia.
What better way to start the festival day than with coffee, conversation and waffles? Our Industry Breakfast brings Scottish artists and cultural workers together with international guests in a relaxed, friendly setting. Over coffee and waffles, you’ll have the opportunity to chat and meet with other colleagues and industry professionals. Did we mention there will be waffles?
This year’s breakfast welcomes a delegation of performance makers from Nova Scotia, supported by the Creative Industries fund.
Access, as published in 2025
BSL interpreted by request – select a BSL ticket when booking. Limited places available.
Credits
Nova Scotia delegation: Lily Falk + Franziska Glen, Dustin Harvey, Coral Maloney, Alex McLean, Stephanie Yee. Supported by the Creative Industries fund.
Fri 17 & Sat 18 Oct · Advanced Research Centre, University of Glasgow
WITHIN TOUCHING DISTANCE – ZU-UK (UK)
One audience member at a time, from childhood to adulthood and old age, through the medium of a bedtime routine.
WITHIN TOUCHING DISTANCE – ZU-UK (UK)
One audience member at a time, from childhood to adulthood and old age, through the medium of a bedtime routine.
Within Touching Distance takes one audience member at a time through a journey from childhood to adulthood and old age through the medium of a bedtime routine. This is not theatre as spectacle – it’s theatre as encounter, to be lived through moment to moment.
With XR technology and a deeply personal journey through life and care, Within Touching Distance will leave you altered. This is theatre that lives on your skin.
Access, as published in 2025
Immersive, participatory experience for one audience member at a time via VR headset while lying on a bed. Wheelchair accessible, with accessible modification available. Breakout space provided after the performance. Consent discussion with the actor on arrival. Language: English.
Credits
Creative team: Persis Jadé Maravala, Jorge Lopes Ramos, Ross Flight, Hayley Hill, Elisa Moriconi, Alex Peckham, Sneha Belkhale. Cast: Persis Jadé Maravala, Hayley Hill, Sarah Klvanova, Aitana Llorente, Thelma Sharma, Khadijah Islam. Production team: Jorge Lopes Ramos, Persis Jadé Maravala, Ross Flight, Alex Peckham, Hayley Hill, Sarah Klvanova, Aitana Llorente, Carlos Ziccarelli, Thelma Sharma, Khadijah Islam, Ana Gillespie, Carlos Eduardo Pires, Marnie Nash, Sel Ertas, Kesia Guillery, Sanjay Pandey.
Fri 17 – Sun 19 Oct · GoMA
PUBLIC TRUST – Paul Ramírez Jonas (USA)
A series of interactive performances that asks the public to vouch for their promises.
PUBLIC TRUST – Paul Ramírez Jonas (USA)
A series of interactive performances that asks the public to vouch for their promises.
Public Trust is a public realm artwork, a series of interactive performances that asks the public to vouch for their promises from a vast array of collaterals: taking oaths over sacred or civic texts, swearing over holy objects or materials, calling on a witness, making a pinky promise etc.
As willing participants utter their promises, and then ‘give their word’ in whatever way they see fit, their promises will go up on a large-scale marquee display board (anonymously) for much wider publics to read. The board will also display other promissory statements culled from that day’s news – political promises, the weather report, scientific predictions, promises from popular culture figures, economic forecasts and more.
Access, as published in 2025
V | AD | BSL. Audio described and BSL interpreted on Saturday 18 October, 12:00–16:00. Outdoors under an awning at GoMA; wheelchair accessible; seated and standing options. Highly visual with written and spoken text. Audience interaction and participation optional. Language: English, written and spoken.
Credits
Lead artist: Paul Ramírez Jonas. Produced and presented in association with Fierce. Originally commissioned by Now + There. Photography: Lensi Photography.
Fri 17 Oct · The Hunterian Art Gallery
MAKING PUBLICS: LECTURE WITH PAUL RAMÍREZ JONAS – Paul Ramírez Jonas (USA)
How art can engage meaningful, self-reflective participation by an every day public.
MAKING PUBLICS: LECTURE WITH PAUL RAMÍREZ JONAS – Paul Ramírez Jonas (USA)
How art can engage meaningful, self-reflective participation by an every day public.
Join us for an artist talk with acclaimed New York-based artist Paul Ramírez Jonas, presented as part of the University of Glasgow’s Thinking Culture events programme. This lecture will focus on Paul Ramírez Jonas’ projects in the public realm, and expand on his ideas on how art can engage meaningful, self-reflective participation by an every day public.
Since the 1990s, Paul Ramírez Jonas has sought to challenge the relationship between artist, viewer, and artwork. Through his practice he seeks to challenge the definitions of art and the public and to engineer active audience participation and exchange. In Public Trust, presented in over a dozen cities in the USA, England and Mexico City, he has asked participants to examine the value of their word, each individual declared a promise recorded in a drawing consistent with their beliefs. Key to the City (New York, 2010, Birmingham UK, 2022) involved tens of thousands of participants and distributed keys that opened multiple sites across the city.
Whimsical and sincere, he thinks of his works as monuments rather than as sculptures – as situations that address a public, often without an author, and communicate collective ideals, histories, and dreams rather than the individual expression of the artist. With his large-scale project Public Trust unfolding outside GoMA, we’ll hear directly from the artist about the ideas, histories and urgencies that shape his work.
Access, as published in 2025
CC. Live captioning provided. Hearing assistance system available in the lecture theatre. Wheelchair accessible via lift. Gently tiered seating with handrail, two rows step free. Wheelchair spaces available. Plastic fixed seats with padded cushions, no armrests. Language: English with English captions.
Credits
Presented as part of the University of Glasgow’s Thinking Culture events programme.
Fri 17 & Sat 18 Oct · Tramway T4
SELKIE: THE WET AND WILD SHOW! – Craig Manson (Scotland)
Come and see a real-life selkie, expertly kept, trained and displayed by two glamorous women in wetsuits.
SELKIE: THE WET AND WILD SHOW! – Craig Manson (Scotland)
Come and see a real-life selkie, expertly kept, trained and displayed by two glamorous women in wetsuits.
Craig Manson’s thrilling reimagining of the Selkie myth is a once in a lifetime opportunity to get up close and personal with the magical, shimmering beast! Selkies are legendary creatures who are part seal, part human. Shedding their sealskins to take human form on land, selkies are traditionally described in stories where their skins are stolen, preventing them from ever returning to their true home under the sea.
Reimagining this myth for the 21st century, SELKIE: THE WET & WILD SHOW! is a provocative spectacle that brings animal rights, queerness and bodily autonomy into a whole new arena. Come and see a real-life selkie, expertly kept, trained and displayed by two glamorous women in wetsuits. Step onstage to feed him; watch him dance to kitschy pop anthems; marvel at his resilience as he batters his body on the floor, against all odds!
Slippery, subversive, wetter and wilder, Selkie slides his way onto the stage to thrill you, provoke you and leave you gasping.
Access, as published in 2025
BSL interpretation by Melissa Toner. Ground floor, wheelchair accessible. Optional immersive seating in the ‘Splash Zone’. Step free seating with flip-down padded seats. Wheelchair spaces available. Sensory notes: loud music, sudden loud sounds, flashing lights, smoke, fog or haze, audience interaction, scent (fish), mess and spray (water), nudity.
Credits
Created by Craig Manson. Selkie: Craig Manson. Selkie’s trainers: Agnes Evans-Forrest & Jessica Kucelin. The Commander: Theo Seddon. Producer: Feral Arts. Stunt coordinator: Fox Banks. Dramaturg: James Ley. Outside eye: Siân Baxter. Designer: Dav Bernard. Production manager: Louise Gregory. BSL interpreter: Melissa Toner. Image credit: Diana Dumi.
Fri 17 Oct · St Ninian’s Scottish Episcopal Church
BARDAJE – Lukas Avendaño (Mexico)
Avendaño moves in attire embroidered with ayoyotes, ancestral musical seeds that rattle with each step, and a large, colourful headdress.
BARDAJE – Lukas Avendaño (Mexico)
Avendaño moves in attire embroidered with ayoyotes, ancestral musical seeds that rattle with each step, and a large, colourful headdress.
The words bardaje, bardash, and berdash have been used since the 18th century to describe Indigenous homosexual identities across the Americas. Their roots trace a lineage through Italian (bardascia), Arabic (bardaj), and Persian (barah), marking a long history of dissent from dominant ontologies and epistemologies, those imposed from the global north onto the global south.
In Zapotec culture, a muxhe is often described as a man who embraces roles traditionally associated with women, though this identity exists outside Western gender binaries. Lukas Avendaño describes muxeidad as a third gender, a category that disrupts colonial frameworks of sex and gender. This is the ground from which Bardaje rises, a performance in which Avendaño moves in attire embroidered with ayoyotes, ancestral musical seeds that rattle with each step, and a large, colourful headdress.
Bardaje explores Avendaño’s reflection on muxeidad, sexuality and the tensions that exist around it. The work invites us into a sensorial encounter with the archaeology of memory and matrilineality, where feathers, metallic paper, ayoyotl, gold and silver become the sacred and profane tools of resistance.
Access, as published in 2025
AD | TT. Audio described by Jonathan Penny via headsets, reservable at booking. Touch tour at 19:45. Wheelchair accessible. Ground floor venue with fixed wooden church pew seating on one level. Sensory notes: sudden loud noises. Language: Spanish with written English translation.
Credits
Original idea, investigation and design by Lukas Avendaño.
Sat 18 Oct · The Boardwalk
REQUIEM PARA UN ALCARAVÁN – Lukas Avendaño (Mexico)
The muxhe dances and invites the spectator to participate in traditional female rites of passage: the wedding, la mayordomía, la curandera rezandera, the mourning.
REQUIEM PARA UN ALCARAVÁN – Lukas Avendaño (Mexico)
The muxhe dances and invites the spectator to participate in traditional female rites of passage: the wedding, la mayordomía, la curandera rezandera, the mourning.
Requiem for an Alcaraván is a performative dance rooted in the figure of the muxhe, or man-woman, a term that carries specific cultural meaning within Zapotec tradition. Through the concept of muxheidad, Zapotec culture holds space for gender expressions and same-sex relationships that both coexist with and disrupt patriarchal and binary structures, though not without contradiction.
A muxhe is a man who assumes roles culturally associated with women, in labour, love, care and sex. Muxheidad is both a veiled social recognition and celebration of transgression: sanctioned and stigmatised.
In Requiem for an Alcaraván, the muxhe dances and invites the spectator to participate in traditional female rites of passage: the wedding, la mayordomía, la curandera rezandera, the mourning. The performance culminates in a transformation: as the dancer embodies the alcaraván or berelele (Burhinus oedicnemus), a local bird associated with metamorphosis. In some versions of the bird’s myth, the male alcaraván, once he mates, is sacrificed by the female – a symbolic closing of a cycle.
Access, as published in 2025
CC. Wheelchair accessible by lift. Hearing loop available. Stage-side seating, step free. Chairs with no arms. Wheelchair spaces available on request. Sensory notes: audience interaction, audience participation including physical touch and lifting or manual handling, alcohol offered to audience. Language: Spanish with English closed captions.
Credits
Original idea, investigation and design: Lukas Avendaño. Wardrobe: Irene Martínez Antonio, Mary Cristóbal Lobo, Wendy San Blas, Gilberto Mtz. Fabián (Dxi Laani), José Ángel Gallegos Sánchez. Standard in the flag: Mariano Toledo Valdivieso. Original music: Medio Xhiga (public domain); Diana Tradicional Istmeña (public domain); ‘Bitopa zuu’do’ and Gube II by Atilano Morales; Carreta Guie (public domain); Fandango Tehuano (public domain); Bere lele attributed to Cenobio López Lena; Marcha fúnebre by Atilano Morales. Text: ‘Nora’ by Emilio Carballido, 1980, and Lukas Avendaño.
Sat 18 Oct · Platform Easterhouse
COME BACK AGAIN – Doris Uhlich & Susanne Kirnbauer-Bundy (Austria)
Two dancers of different generations meet to revisit the past, illuminate the present and conduct futuristic archaeology.
COME BACK AGAIN – Doris Uhlich & Susanne Kirnbauer-Bundy (Austria)
Two dancers of different generations meet to revisit the past, illuminate the present and conduct futuristic archaeology.
Come Back Again is a performance about the courage to challenge one’s own body biography and choose previously untaken paths at an advanced age. After SPITZE (2008) and Come Back (2012), choreographer Doris Uhlich continues her collaboration with Susanne Kirnbauer-Bundy, the former principal solo dancer at the Vienna State Opera.
In her mid-40s she had to end her career as an active ballet dancer: there is no place on the ballet stage for an aging body – let alone an aging female body. Now, at over 80, Kirnbauer-Bundy joins up with choreographer Doris Uhlich to explore ways for her energy to transform beyond the ballet steps she is no longer able to perform. In a limbo of change and rearrangement, two dancers of different generations meet to revisit the past, illuminate the present and conduct futuristic archaeology.
Access, as published in 2025
BSL interpreted by Yvonne Strain. Highly visual with some spoken text in English. Wheelchair accessible. Wheelchair spaces available. Sensory notes: full blackout, loud music, smoke, fog or haze.
Credits
Concept and choreography: Doris Uhlich. Performance: Susanne Kirnbauer-Bundy, Doris Uhlich. Dramaturgical collaborator: Adam Czirak. Outside eye: Nikolaus Selimov. Feedback: Yoshie Maruoka. Sound: DJ Boris Kopeinig. Stage: Doris Uhlich in collaboration with Juliette Collas. Stage support: Marco Tölzer. Lighting design: Leticia Skrycky. Lighting technical implementation and tour support: Gerald Pappenberger. Communication and press: Franziska Heubacher. Company management and production: Margot Wehinger. International distribution: Giulia Traversi. Photo: Alexi Pelekanos.
Sat 18 Oct · Tramway T1
THE LAST SUPPER – MEXA (Brazil)
A group of people sits at a table for a meal. Someone announces it will be the last.
THE LAST SUPPER – MEXA (Brazil)
A group of people sits at a table for a meal. Someone announces it will be the last.
A group of people sits at a table for a meal. Someone announces it will be the last. The group will no longer exist. It’s a farewell. It could be fiction, but it isn’t always. Tonight, no one will be saved.
MEXA is an artistic collective formed in 2015 following episodes of violence in homeless shelters in São Paulo. The collective explore the boundaries between reality and fiction, autobiography, documentary, and theater of the real. Over the years, some of its members have disappeared.
In MEXA’s new performance, directed by João Turchi, the collective draws from Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the same name to revisit – through their own lived experiences – the idea of death, resurrection, and the possibility of creating a final image for a group that is about to end. Combining celebration, transmission and solidarity, MEXA makes theatre into a living ritual, in which the stage becomes a space for sharing and recollection.
How does one go on alone when the collective no longer exists? Who tells the stories of bodies that can no longer speak?
Access, as published in 2025
CC | SP. Closed captions in English. Subpacs available from Tramway box office. T1 Tramway, ground floor, wheelchair accessible. Seating bank with flip-down padded seats with arms, one row step free. Wheelchair spaces available. Optional stage seating, wheelchair accessible. Breakout space available. Ear defenders, ear plugs and dark glasses available. Sensory notes: loud music, sudden loud sounds, full blackout, flashing lights, strobe, lasers, scent (hot food), audience interaction, optional audience participation, optional food and alcohol offered. Food contains milk, eggs and wheat. Language: Portuguese with English subtitles.
Credits
Creation: MEXA. Direction and dramaturgy: João Turchi. Performance and co-creation: Aivan, Alê Tradução, Dourado, Patrícia Borges, Suzy Muniz, Veronika Verão, Tatiane Arcanjo. Video performance, video creation and technical direction: Laysa Elias. Assistant director, movement assistance and performance: Lucas Heymanns. Soundtrack, sound design and performance: Podeserdesligado. Lighting and performance: Iara Izidoro. Executive production: Francesca Tedeschi (Casa do Povo). Art direction: Lu Mugayar. Local production: Cibelle Lima. Costume design: Anuro Anuro, Cacau Francisco. Set design: Vão. Vocal direction: Dourado. Co-production: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Casa do Povo, Kampnagel. Photo: Maringás Maciel.
Sun 19 Oct · The Work Room, Tramway
ENERGETIC ICONS: WORKSHOP WITH DORIS UHLICH – Doris Uhlich & Boris Kopeinig (Austria)
An archaeology of energy: what movements are like batteries, that charge the body?
ENERGETIC ICONS: WORKSHOP WITH DORIS UHLICH – Doris Uhlich & Boris Kopeinig (Austria)
An archaeology of energy: what movements are like batteries, that charge the body?
A workshop with Doris Uhlich and Boris Kopeinig exploring movement, dance and sound. We will engage in an archaeology of energy and explore forms of energetic release. Each body has different possibilities to shape individual energy. The method developed by Doris Uhlich is called ‘Energetic Icons’ and allows for more and more individual and collective energetic dance forms.
What movements are like batteries, that charge the body? We move into a dance, in which the energy of a movement is more important than its form and where we can experience the transmission of energy in various ways and constellations.
Boris Kopeinig will be live DJ in the workshop. His DJ sets are driven by technoid rhythms and synthetic frequencies, exploring zones of sound experimentation and dance floor celebration. Sound does not only reach the ears, but also enters the body which starts to grasp sound in all its components as well as experience sound in its entirety.
Access, as published in 2025
BSL interpreted by request, limited places offered on demand. Wheelchair accessible. Gender-neutral accessible toilets. Multiple seating options available. Open to performers, artists, dancers, movers and makers. We aim for workshops to be accessible for all physicalities.
Credits
Presented with The Work Room. Photos: Jan-Willem Bulle and Katarina Soskic.
Mon 20 Oct · Tramway Studio
DISTORTION – DISSONANCE – DECAY: WORKSHOP WITH CHERISH MENZO – Cherish Menzo (The Netherlands)
Glitching, scratching, and remixing a common lexical, seeking the Uncanny, the Enigmatic, and the Monstrous.
DISTORTION – DISSONANCE – DECAY: WORKSHOP WITH CHERISH MENZO – Cherish Menzo (The Netherlands)
Glitching, scratching, and remixing a common lexical, seeking the Uncanny, the Enigmatic, and the Monstrous.
A workshop with choreographer Cherish Menzo, exploring her research into movement and monstrosity. In my current research, monstrosity becomes a way to reshape and strategize dominant and accepted narratives.
Using the body, the voice, and sound, we will attempt to develop a common lexical that refers to existing narratives that we might recognize as the ‘familiar’ or the ‘known.’ By applying distortion, decay, and dissonance, we will strive to challenge these existing matters. Glitching, scratching, and remixing this common lexical, we seek the Uncanny, the Enigmatic, and the Monstrous.
Access, as published in 2025
BSL interpreted by request, offered on demand due to limited places. Wheelchair accessible via lift. Physical movement workshop using body, voice and sound. Open to all physicalities. Wear comfortable movement clothing. Language: English, with the option of BSL.
Credits
Presented with The Work Room. Image: Melanie Musisi.
Tue 21 Oct · Civic House
BREAD FOR THE WORLD – Tiziano Cruz (Argentina)
The workshop invites participants to bake bread as a gesture of remembrance, an offering for those who have passed on.
BREAD FOR THE WORLD – Tiziano Cruz (Argentina)
The workshop invites participants to bake bread as a gesture of remembrance, an offering for those who have passed on.
Bread for the World is a community-based workshop created by artist Tiziano Cruz as part of his performance Wayqeycuna. Bringing together art and community, the workshop invites participants to bake bread as a gesture of remembrance, an offering for those who have passed on and now dwell in the ancestral realm. The process becomes a shared ritual, blurring the line between artistic and communal practice.
In each place the work travels, Cruz conducts local research and collaborates with community members. On this occasion, he will work with the local community and audience to bake together the bread that will become part of the stage show. The workshop lasts around 3 hours and is open to all, with no age limit or previous experience required. It’s an opportunity to connect, to one another, to the past, and to the act of making, as a way of thinking together about who we are, and who we remember.
Access, as published in 2025
BSL interpreted by request. Wheelchair accessible via platform lift. No dropped height kitchen counters. Ground floor venue. Shared wooden benches with no arms; plastic chairs available. Sensory notes: audience participation, handling and preparing food (wheat, gluten); the kitchen is used for other foods including nuts. Language: Spanish with spoken English translation.
Credits
General director, playwright and performer: Tiziano Cruz. Dramaturg: Rodrigo Herrera. Artistic collaboration: Rio Paraná (Duen Sacchi and Mag De Santo). Technical coordination, filmmaking, photography, sound and music design: Matías Gutiérrez. Lighting design: Matías Sendón. Costume design and artistic production: Luciana Iovane. Executive production: Ulmus Gestión Cultural. International relations, production and management: Cecilia Kuska (ROSA studio). Photo: Maryse Boyce.
Tue 21 & Wed 22 Oct · Tramway T4
REGINA CAELI – 21Common (Scotland)
An eruptive dissection of time-served love, framed by funeral rituals, a dodgy children’s choir and the music of Eric Carmen.
REGINA CAELI – 21Common (Scotland)
An eruptive dissection of time-served love, framed by funeral rituals, a dodgy children’s choir and the music of Eric Carmen.
Regina Caeli explores a life lived together; framed by funeral rituals, a dodgy children’s choir and the music of Eric Carmen. Artist Lucy Gaizely asks Gary Gardiner, her partner of 23 years, to collaborate in crafting a posthumous finale for her recently deceased Father, an activity which also maps the trajectory of their relationship. What follows is an eruptive dissection of time-served love.
Regina Caeli questions how we hold each other’s fragility, grow together, and endure hard things and asks whether love is just a choreographed set of virtuosic movements carrying us from birth to death. An immersive audience experience, Regina Caeli uses spatial audio technology to recreate the movements of Heavenly objects, euphoric joy and the Fear of God coupled with an AI generated dance dialogue exploring autonomous and complex movement simulations representing our past, present, and future selves.
Illuminating a real life couple through choreography borne of dependency, grief and rage, Regina Caeli is an apoplectic sermon, a one sided eulogy where the dead have no right to reply.
Access, as published in 2025
BSL interpreted on 22 October. Ground floor, wheelchair accessible. Seating bank with flip down padded seats, one row step free. Wheelchair spaces available. Sensory notes: loud music, flashing lights, full blackout. Ear defenders, ear plugs and dark glasses available to borrow.
Credits
Co-directors: Lucy Gaizely and Gary Gardiner. Dramaturg: Nic Green. Pall bearers: Althea Young and Raedie Gaizely-Gardiner. Production manager: Craig Fleming. Lighting designer: Michaella Fee. Scenographer and set designer: Jenny Booth. Creative technologist and AV designer: Dav Bernard. Sound designer: Calum Paterson. Stage manager and technician: Holly Wright. Associate choreographer: Althea Young. BSL interpreter: Karen Forbes. 21Common associate artist: Ian Johnston. 21Common executive director: Louise Irwin. Photo: Joanna Stawnicka.
Tue 21 Oct · Platform Easterhouse
THESE MECHANISMS – Robbie Synge & Christine Thynne (Scotland)
In her eightieth year, Christine wondered if she might create her first show – with stepladders, electronics and water.
THESE MECHANISMS – Robbie Synge & Christine Thynne (Scotland)
In her eightieth year, Christine wondered if she might create her first show – with stepladders, electronics and water.
In her eightieth year, Christine wondered if she might create her first show. Who says an octogenarian shouldn’t be working with stepladders, electronics… and water?
A performance of persistence and joy, celebrating the beautiful functions and limits of a human body and the desire to make things happen. Assisted by her helper, Calum, Christine manipulates and raps her way along a precarious journey of movement and sound, taking us to surprising places.
Led by play and curiosity and an infectious personality, we are likely to encounter the banal to the jaw-dropping. This is real, and what happens along the way we can’t be sure. Nor can Christine, such is the nature of These Mechanisms.
These Mechanisms is part of a progressive collaboration spanning over a decade between Christine Thynne and Robbie Synge, including group performance Ensemble (Aerowaves; Made In Scotland Showcase and Total Theatre Awards Shortlisted, 2018).
Access, as published in 2025
No specific access provision published for this listing.
Credits
Co-creator and performer: Christine Thynne. Co-creator and director: Robbie Synge. Creative producer: Helen McIntosh. Composer and performer: Calum Paterson. Lighting designer: Emma Jones. Costume designer: Cleo Rose McCabe. Production manager: Fi Fraser. Movement collaborator: Ashley Jack. Funded and supported by Creative Scotland, Luminate, Dance Base, Eden Court and Citymoves. Photography: Amy Sinead.
Wed 22 Oct · Tramway T1
FRANK – Cherish Menzo (The Netherlands/Belgium)
FRANK, as in open, honest, direct, and short for Frankenstein.
FRANK – Cherish Menzo (The Netherlands/Belgium)
FRANK, as in open, honest, direct, and short for Frankenstein.
Somewhere between the ritual, the apocalypse, and the carnival, where the flesh can deviate and corrupt to challenge narrated identity until it bursts and becomes unbearable.
FRANK, as in open, honest, direct, and short for Frankenstein, observes that which the speaking being has placed not ‘in here’ but ‘out there’ on the other side of the border. As the quest to distort the familiar continues, Cherish Menzo examines the monster’s figure, its various relations to the idea of humanhood, and the horrors these relations entail.
More so than (re)producing a physical or visual portrayal of the monster, Cherish Menzo is interested in how the monstrous is a reification and metaphoric embodiment of the beliefs and narratives that terrify, horrify, and yet also attract us.
The performance space fabulates on the Baka Gorong, a place located at the back of the former plantations and in front of the wetlands, where enslaved people in Suriname secretly went to carry out Winti rituals – demonized under Dutch colonial rule – and to consider fleeing.
FRANK will be the closing of a trilogy. Following JEZEBEL and DARKMATTER, Cherish creates a trifold of spaces, universes, fictions, and conversations that regard Blackness, bringing the Black body to the center and attempting to explore the African Diaspora’s multi-intersections in recognizable, metaphorical, and abstract ways.
Access, as published in 2025
BSL | SP. BSL interpretation by Ali Gordon, fixed position on stage. Text is used poetically and subtitles are purposely not always included; essay and written translations in English, Dutch and French available online. Subpacs available from Tramway box office. Latecomers may not be admitted. T1 Tramway, ground floor, wheelchair accessible. Immersive stage side row seating of fixed chairs with no arms, step free. Seating bank with flip down padded seats with arms, one row step free. Wheelchair spaces available. Sensory notes: loud music, sudden loud sounds, full blackout, flashing lights, strobe, smoke or haze, sudden moving, falling or flying objects, audience interaction (spoken and touch), close proximity to bodily fluids (sweat), mess (water). For safety reasons, re-entry during the performance may not be permitted. Language: English and French.
Credits
Concept and direction: Cherish Menzo. Creation and performance: Malick Cissé, Mulunesh, Omagbitse Omagbemi. Sound design: Maria Muehombo a.k.a M I M I. Video design: Andrea Casetti. Sound and video engineering: Arthur De Vuyst. Set design: Morgana Machado Marques. Lighting design: Ryoya Fudetani. Dramaturgy: Johanne Affricot, Renée Copraij. Costumes: Cherish Menzo. Text: Khadija El Kharraz Alami, Cherish Menzo. Production: GRIP & Theater Utrecht. In collaboration with Dance On Ensemble. Co-production: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Carreau du Temple, Productiehuis Theater Rotterdam, Julidans Amsterdam, PACT Zollverein, Festival Montpellier Danse 2025, Centre Chorégraphique National d’Orléans, Tanzquartier Wien, DDD Festival Dias da Dança, Festival d’Automne à Paris, One Dance Festival, Perpodium. Photo: Bas de Brouwer.
Thu 23 Oct · Platform Easterhouse
WAYQEYCUNA – Tiziano Cruz (Argentina)
Cruz takes the knotty path back to childhood in northern Argentina to reconnect with his community.
WAYQEYCUNA – Tiziano Cruz (Argentina)
Cruz takes the knotty path back to childhood in northern Argentina to reconnect with his community.
A quipu is a textile artefact made from ropes and knots, woven by Andrean women as a form of memorial. Similarly, Wayqeycuna follows artist Tiziano Cruz as he takes the knotty path back to childhood in northern Argentina to reconnect with his community.
This intimate, politically-charged performance is rooted in archival work and unfolds as a poetic response to systems of racial hierarchy and structural domination. In a world where neoliberalism violently erases cultural memory and collective identity, Wayqeycuna is both an offering and resistance.
The work forms the final part of Cruz’s trilogy Three Ways to Sing to a Mountain, interweaving personal history with critical reflections on the art market and class privilege. Through carefully constructed gestures and rich visual language, Cruz invites us into his childhood memories to witness how remembrance can be a radical act.
Access, as published in 2025
CC. Closed captions available. Wheelchair accessible by lift. Seating bank with flip-down padded seats with arms, one row step free. Wheelchair spaces available. Sensory notes: flashing images; audience have the option to sample bread containing wheat and gluten, prepared in a kitchen that handles other allergens. Language: Spanish with English closed captions.
Credits
General director, playwright and performer: Tiziano Cruz. Dramaturg: Rodrigo Herrera. Artistic collaboration: Rio Paraná (Duen Sacchi and Mag De Santo). Technical coordination, filmmaking, photography, sound and music design: Matías Gutiérrez. Lighting design: Matías Sendón. Costume design and artistic production: Luciana Iovane. Executive production: Ulmus Gestión Cultural. International relations: Cecilia Kuska (ROSA studio). Creation residencies: La Virreina Centre de la Imatge (Spain), CRL Central Eléctrica (Portugal). Co-producers: MITsp, Festival d’Avignon, La Bâtie, Zurich Theater Spektakel, Ulmus Gestión Cultural and ROSA studio.
Fri 24 Oct · Concert Hall, University of Glasgow
ASSES.MASSES WORKSHOP ON DEMOCRACY, PERFORMANCE AND IMMERSIVE PRACTICES – Patrick Blenkarn & David Mesiha (Canada)
Do our practices and systems within the performing arts sector support or hinder a strong democracy?
ASSES.MASSES WORKSHOP ON DEMOCRACY, PERFORMANCE AND IMMERSIVE PRACTICES – Patrick Blenkarn & David Mesiha (Canada)
Do our practices and systems within the performing arts sector support or hinder a strong democracy?
Do our practices and systems within the performing arts sector support or hinder a strong democracy? Led by two of the artists behind asses.masses, Patrick Blenkarn and David Mesiha, participants in this workshop will collaborate to answer this question and to playfully imagine new experiences, stories, games, and processes that might foster new forms of democratic practices within the performing arts and our society at large.
Access, as published in 2025
No specific access provision published for this listing.
Credits
Presented by the Immersive Experiences Lab.
Fri 24 Oct · Concert Hall, University of Glasgow
POLITICS OF/IN IMMERSIVE PERFORMANCE EXPERIENCES – panel, chaired by Eirini Nedelkopoulou (Scotland)
How might immersion itself be mobilised as a tool for critique, resistance, or complicity?
POLITICS OF/IN IMMERSIVE PERFORMANCE EXPERIENCES – panel, chaired by Eirini Nedelkopoulou (Scotland)
How might immersion itself be mobilised as a tool for critique, resistance, or complicity?
Immersive performance invites us to step inside the story – sometimes as guests, sometimes as co-creators. But what happens when we think about the politics of these experiences? How might immersion itself be mobilised as a tool for critique, resistance, or complicity?
Bringing together artists Tania El Khoury (Cultural Exchange Rate), Patrick Blenkarn (asses.masses), and Jack Lander, this panel will explore the possibilities and limits of immersive performance as a political form, consider the shifting role of audience engagement within it, and reimagine what it means to be part of a performance.
Access, as published in 2025
No specific access provision published for this listing.
Credits
Panellists: Tania El Khoury, Patrick Blenkarn, Jack Lander. Chair: Eirini Nedelkopoulou. Presented by the Immersive Experiences Lab.
Sat 25 Oct · Tramway T1
STILL LIVES: GLASGOW – Daniel Kok & Luke George (Singapore/Australia)
Collaborating with local wrestlers, they re-stage the high drama of the ring, tying up their bodies mid-tackle and suspending them above the mat.
STILL LIVES: GLASGOW – Daniel Kok & Luke George (Singapore/Australia)
Collaborating with local wrestlers, they re-stage the high drama of the ring, tying up their bodies mid-tackle and suspending them above the mat.
Still Lives is a performance series that captures (with ropes) significant moments or movement in relation to specific cultural contexts. Each edition of Still Lives is a durational, site-responsive and context-specific process of binding cultural objects in their place.
For Glasgow, Still Lives enters the charged world of professional wrestling, a scene with deep local roots and fiercely loyal fans. The artists will lean into the city’s appetite for drama and physical theatre, exploring energy and inertia, movement and pause, kayfabe and the suspension (quite literally) of disbelief.
The artists use the traditional Japanese shibari rope technique, historically used for restraint, and in this work recognised for its aesthetic and sculptural qualities. Collaborating with local wrestlers, they will re-stage the high drama, stories and choreography of the ring, tying up their bodies mid-tackle and suspending them above the mat.
The performance will be soundtracked live by Huntress: expect goth-metal textures, pulsing techno and strange, beautiful noise.
Access, as published in 2025
BSL | R. BSL interpretation by Yvonne Strain. Closed captions on all videos. Relaxed performance elements: audiences can leave and re-enter; movement and noise welcome. Ear defenders, ear plugs and dark glasses available. Wheelchair accessible. Flexible seating: chairs, beanbags, cushions and a seating bank. Under 16s require adult accompaniment.
Credits
Artists: Luke George and Daniel Kok. Recipient of two 2022 Green Room Awards (Melbourne) for Contemporary and Experimental Performance and for Design and Technical Achievement. Made possible with support from the Singapore Arts Council. Produced by Something Great. Photo: Tim Carrafa.
Sat 25 Oct · Tramway T4
YOU LIVE YOU LEARN – Antje Schupp (Switzerland)
A performance about non-performing. It moves from darkness to light, from speechlessness to a conversation with the audience.
YOU LIVE YOU LEARN – Antje Schupp (Switzerland)
A performance about non-performing. It moves from darkness to light, from speechlessness to a conversation with the audience.
How do you perform when you can’t? How do you work when you shouldn’t? Whom do you ask for help? Your doctor? Your colleagues? Your boss? It begins with a dilemma: how can we speak when we’re out of words? When we want to move forward, but feel not able to do so? They say that sometimes we must just take a leap and then a net will appear. Let’s try!
You live you learn is about burnout, our relationship to work and the significance it has in society. Despite preventing measures in companies, being burned out is often perceived as the fault of an individual, instead of questioning a system of working conditions. Therefore, many people don’t dare to communicate that they are not well. And often enough, they don’t see it coming.
So there is a difficulty, yet a necessity to speak about burnout to overcome it. This dilemma is the core of the work: It is a performance about non-performing. It moves from darkness to light, from speechlessness to a conversation with the audience. May we all learn something new tonight!
Access, as published in 2025
CC. Primarily text-based, with spoken and written text in English; some written text is not spoken aloud. Closed captions in English on a TV screen, best viewed from the left side of the seating bank. At the end of the performance there is an invitation to come on stage and join a lightly facilitated conversation over drinks; a BSL interpreter is present for the conversation only, which is not live captioned. T4 Tramway, ground floor, wheelchair accessible. Seating bank with flip down padded seats with arms, one row step free. Wheelchair spaces available. Sensory notes: full blackout, loud sound (drumming), audience participation, audience offered alcohol, audience offered food (lemons).
Credits
Concept, text and performance: Antje Schupp. Musical support and performance: Martin Gantenbein. Outside eye: Lola Giouse. Interview: Nadine Jent. Production: born2perform with the support of Kaserne Basel, LAB residency and Fachausschuss Darstellende Künste BS/BL. Presented with the support of Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts Council and Swiss Culture Fund UK. Photo: Pati Grabowicz.
Sun 26 Oct · Tramway T1
ASSES.MASSES – Patrick Blenkarn & Milton Lim (Canada)
A custom-made video game about labour, technophobia and sharing the load of revolution, designed to be played from beginning to end in a live theatre.
ASSES.MASSES – Patrick Blenkarn & Milton Lim (Canada)
A custom-made video game about labour, technophobia and sharing the load of revolution, designed to be played from beginning to end in a live theatre.
The unemployed donkeys have one demand: the humans must surrender their machines and give all donkeys their jobs back. But revolution is never easy! asses.masses is a custom-made video game about labour, technophobia and sharing the load of revolution, designed to be played from beginning to end in a live theatre.
This is gaming as performance; an immersive, cheeky and highly original work. Brave spectators take turns at the controller to lead the herd through a post-Industrial society, where asses are valued more for their hides than their potential.
Confronting automation driven job loss, nostalgia as a barrier to progress, and the role of technology in adaptation, we are encouraged to find space between the work that defines us and the play that frees us. asses.masses is Animal Farm meets Pokémon meets Final Fantasy: as exciting in form as it is in content. No previous gaming (or donkey) experience required.
Access, as published in 2025
BSL | R. Visual performance with no spoken text; all language is visual with written prompts integrated. BSL interpreter present during breaks. Relaxed performance elements: audiences can leave and re-enter; movement and stimming welcomed; house lights remain partially on. Pre-show access guide and social story available. Breakout space available before, during and after. Ear defenders, ear plugs and dark glasses available to borrow. Food served; allergens include celery, gluten, sesame, dairy, wheat, mustard and soy. T1 Tramway, ground floor, wheelchair accessible. Padded seats with arms, one row step free; the controller position offers level access. Wheelchair spaces available. Language: English, written.
Credits
Co-direction, text, programming, pixel art and 2D animation: Patrick Blenkarn. Co-direction, text, sound design, video, shaders and 3D visual effects: Milton Lim. Dramaturgy, text and touring producer: Laurel Green. Original music and sound design: David Mesiha. Pixel art and 2D animation: Clarissa Picolo, William Roth. 3D environments: Ariadne Sage. Additional programming: Samuel Reinhart. Tour operators: Patrick Blenkarn, Milton Lim, Laurel Green, David Mesiha, Stéphane Noel. International distribution: Stéphane Noël / Materialise.