Audiences are being welcomed back to Liverpool theatres for a ten day arts festival that’s set to explore themes of ‘communication and information’.
The Angel Field Festival, organised by Liverpool Hope University, launches Thursday June 24th and runs to Saturday July 3rd.
Headline acts will include Americana band Django Rhinestone, which features former Death in Vegas founder Steve Hellier on guitar, as well as a spectacular stage performance of The Ballad of Mulan – the story of a real Chinese heroine that inspired Disney’s famous Mulan movie.
Centred on Hope’s famous Cornerstone and Capstone theatres, other acts include magician and performer Vincent Gambini, contemporary chamber music ensemble rarescale and Bite! Theatre’s Pucker Up, a political comedy show that’ll make you question what you think you know about femininity and female empowerment.
There will also be a performance of music from acclaimed Liverpool composer Stephen Pratt.
And festival organiser Professor Stephen Davismoon says crowds will be able to take their rightful places in theatre seats – with safe social distancing measures in place – as COVID-19 restrictions continue to be eased.
Prof. Davismoon, Head of Hope’s School of Creative & Performing Arts, said the event is on course to be one of the ‘first fully “live” festivals to take place in the UK since the commencement of the world pandemic’.
He adds: “2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the sending of the first email and the 50th anniversary of the development of the first microprocessor. The main theme of our festival this year marks these anniversaries – Communication and Information
“There are many things that lockdown has taught us about what is important – vital even – to life, possibly above all it’s the loss of the presence of others – those close to us, as well as the possibility of spending time with those that we’ve never met before; the opportunity to make new friends and expand our lives – to communicate and gain information.
“It’s my hope that the Angel Field Festival this summer will offer us many occasions to share time and space with others allowing us opportunities to marvel, laugh and contemplate life.”
As part of the festival’s exploration of ‘communication and information’, audiences are also invited to two unique sound installations.
The About Us-For Us show will feature, among other things, telephone calls recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic and which document the experiences of people living in West Everton during this troubling period of time.
And the immersive and interactive Simul Sunder exhibition will allow visitors to select YouTube videos before the clips are run through various digital processors to create ‘ambient soundscapes and abstract visualisations’. Those experiences will also be live-streamed over the Internet.
The Angel Field Festival will showcase the work of Hope students through various displays and performances.
Meanwhile there will also be a screening of Charlie Chaplin’s 1921 film The Kid to coincide with the movie’s 100th anniversary. The film will be screened in Hope’s Capstone Theatre – on the very same site that London-born Chaplin himself attended the former St Francis Xavier Elementary school during his brief time in Everton as a young boy in 1900.
Prof Davismoon reveals: “The festival features music, fine art, story-telling, dance, drama, film, magic and comedy. I always attempt to bring international culture to Everton; with the current travel constraints this has proven much more difficult.
However, we can say that we have culture on offer from China, Argentina, Italy, Brazil, Serbia, Russia, Australia, USA, India amongst many other regions of the world as well as that, that is much closer to home.”
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