Under the Radar Festival 2021
Under the Radar Festival 2021
To kick off 2021 we’re very excited to be be showcasing work from Inua Ellams and Javaad Alipoor at Under The Radar Festival (6-17 January 2021), as part of a three-year partnership between Arts Council England, Public Theater in New York, and MIF – to promote artists and companies based in England to a global audience.
Under The Radar supports artists who are at the vanguard of theatre and performance practice, redefining and refreshing it. As an internationally significant festival, it has become an important meeting place for presenters and curators from across the world and an important platform for artists seeking touring opportunities. This year, for the first time, it will be free and online, further expanding the reach and access of cutting-edge performance to world-wide audiences.
Inua Ellams writer of international hit Barber Shop Chronicles will present Borders & Crossings a new work in development about migration produced by Fuel (7-10 Jan) and Javaad Alipoor, best known for his works incorporating real-time mobile technology, will present an online version of his acclaimed Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran (7-17 Jan).
The partnership is part of our commitment to nurturing the careers of artists as we head towards the opening of The Factory, the world-class arts space being developed in Manchester that will be our future home. As well as selecting the artists for inclusion in Under The Radar, we will provide additional support such as mentoring and networking to help maximise the opportunities of showcasing their work at a major international festival.
At last year’s festival, we showcased work by Lucy McCormick, Jess Thom and Selina Thompson as part of the partnership. We also promoted and supported the work of Inua Ellams, Javaad Alipoor and Rachel Mars at the Under The Radar symposium.
Inua Ellams – Borders & Crossings
Born to a Muslim father and a Christian mother against a backdrop of sectarian violence, Inua Ellams left Nigeria for England in 1996 aged 12, moved to Ireland for three years, before returning to London. An award-winning poet, performer, playwright, graphic artist, and designer, Inua returns to the theme of migration in his work, exploring his own life experiences and wider global and political questions. Borders & Crossings is an opportunity to get to know Inua and hear some of his poetic and dramatic work on these themes.
Javaad Alipoor – Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran
Winner of the 2019 Scotsman Fringe First Award, Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran is a darkly comedic, urgent new play about entitlement, consumption and digital technology, that explores the ubiquitous feeling that our societies are falling apart.
Combining digital theatre and a live Instagram feed, it is the sequel to the award-winning The Believers Are But Brothers, and the second part of a trilogy of plays from Javaad Alipoor about how digital technology, resentment and fracturing identities are changing the world.