Nottingham Playhouse Announces Arts & Theatre Festival, May 26 - June 12

Nottingham Playhouse in partnership with Nottingham City Council, One Nottingham and the major arts venues in Nottingham - including Theatre Royal Nottingham, Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham Contemporary, New Art Exchange and Broadway Cinema & Media Centre - present Nottingham European Arts & Theatre Festival The festival will take place 26 May - 12 June 2011 and will feature an exciting range of ground-breaking European theatre, music, performance, film and visual art for adults and children.

neat11 has been developed by Giles Croft, Artistic Director at Nottingham Playhouse. The theatre is a member of the European Theatre Convention (ETC) and throughout the weekend of 27-29 May, the city will welcome delegates from across Europe as Nottingham Playhouse plays host to the ETC General Assembly. This event acts as the curtain raiser to an ambitious festival which showcases the best of European theatre including many ETC member companies such as Det Norske Teatret, Deutsches Theater and Theatre Nowy. The festival cements Nottingham's place as a culturally important European city and allows Nottingham-based artists to showcase their work alongside those of internationally renowned companies.

Giles Croft, Artistic Director of Nottingham Playhouse and neat11 commented: "I'm delighted that we are able to bring so many partners from across Nottingham and Europe together in delivering what will be a remarkable two week festival of international work. All the cultural organisations in the City have combined to bring companies as varied and exciting as The Deutsches Theater and Theatre Nowy to present work alongside Cheek By Jowl, Gob Squad and The Playhouse itself. There will be work from Kosovo, the West Bank and Gaza, youth projects, site specific work and work for children. This will be one of the most exciting festivals to happen in England this year."

Laura Dyer, Executive Director Arts Council England (Midlands and West) commented: "The Festival brings audiences work which will challenge, excite and entertain. We look forward to brave, contemporary work; imaginative reinterpretations of pieces by some of Europe's greatest playwrights; and work by some of the East Midlands' most innovative artists."

Jane Todd, Nottingham City Council's Chief Executive, said: "This festival is the latest example of how Nottingham City Council is working with its cultural partners to bring world-class events and performances to Nottingham this year. I am pleased and excited that citizens and visitors alike will be able to enjoy a diverse programme of European Arts and Theatre and this event will further cement Nottingham's reputation as a city of international culture."

Nottingham Playhouse will present UK premieres of Henrik Ibsen's political satire The League of Youth, Deutsches Theater's (Berlin) Woyzeck by Georg Büchner (in a version by Robert Wilson, using the songs of Tom Waits) and the spectacular production of Goethe's Faust by the Polish Theatr Nowy. Nottingham Playhouse will be cementing their relationship with the European Theatre Convention by staging readings of plays by contemporary playwrights from Serbia, Bulgarian, Finland, Kosovo and The Ukraine. There will also be a series of fringe events and performances of the very best of contemporary European drama and music throughout the festival in the Nottingham Playhouse studio, presented in partnership with ETC, Theatre Writing Partnership, New Perspectives Theatre Company and Company of Angels.

The Theatre Royal Nottingham in association with the Chekhov InterNational Theatre Festival will present the only UK performance in 2011 of Cheek by Jowl's critically acclaimed and stunningly beautiful Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov which will be performed in Russian by the company's Russian ensemble. Lakeside Arts Centre will showcase work by Det Norske Teatret. The Danish theatre companies Gruppe 38 and Teater Refleksion together with Catalonian dance group Nats Nus Dansa will also perform as part of ‘Wheee! ' - Lakeside's International Children's Theatre and Dance Festival. The new world class art gallery Nottingham Contemporary will present innovative live performances by two companies with Nottingham and European connections - Gobsquad (Berlin/Nottingham) and Reckless Sleepers (Nottingham/Ghent).

At New Art Exchange, there will be a screening of Juliano Mer Khamis' must-see documentary Arna's Children about the work the Freedom Theatre does with, and for, children and young people living in Jenin refugee camp in the in the north of the occupied Palestinian Territories. Nottingham Playhouse Youth Theatre and New Art Exchange's Youth Theatre Group (YARD) will perform the compelling Gaza Mono-logues, developed by the Ashtar Theatre, Palestine. There will also be the premiere of a new play The Crossing presented by Tangle - an interNational Theatre company with artists from Europe, Africa and the Caribbean.

In addition to all of this, the Broadway Cinema & Media Centre will show a programme of European film, performance art collective Hatch will present a programme of live art at unusual locations around the city, including performances by Polish, German, Belgian and UK artists. There will be an exciting programme of outreach and education work, engaging local people in the festival to celebrate the diversity of Nottingham's community.

The Festival has been funded by Arts Council England, Nottingham City Council and the European Theatre Convention.

Fri 13 May - Wed 1 June: Nottingham Playhouse Theatre Company present the UK premiere of The League of Youth by Henrik Ibsen, in a new version by Andy Barrett

Fri 3 & Sat 4 June: Deutsches Theater present the UK premiere of Woyzeck

Thu 9 - Sat 11 June: Theatr Nowy present Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Sat 28 - Tue 31 May: Blast Theory presents Ulrike and Eamon Compliant

Theatre Royal Nottingham

Wed 25 & Sat 28 May: Theatre Royal Nottingham and Opera North present Fidelio

Tue 7 - Sat 11 June: Cheek by Jowl present Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov

Lakeside Arts Centre

Fri 27 & Sat 28 May: Det Norske Teatret present The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Tue 31 May: Nats Nus Dansa present Maps

Sat 4 June & Sun 5 June: Gruppe 38 present Hans Christian, You Must Be An Angel

Nottingham Contemporary

Sun 29 & Mon 30 May: Gobsquad present Gobsquad's Kitchen (You've Never Had It So Good)

Sat 4 & Sun 5 June: Reckless Sleepers present The Last Supper

Thu 9 June: Gabriele Reuter presents Tourist

New Art Exchange

Thu 2 & Fri 3 June: Tangle in association with Nottingham Playhouse present The Crossing

Thu 8 June: Screening of Arna's Children followed by a discussion

Sat 11 June: Nottingham Playhouse and YARD present The Gaza Mono-logues

Galleries of Justice Museum

Wed 1 - Sat 4 June: The British Comedy Company in association with Nottingham Playhouse present Court in the Act!

Nottingham Castle

Sat 4 & Sun 5 June: Hanby and Barrett present The Cries of Silent Men

To post a comment, you must register and login.