New Earth Theatre Will Host Twisted Roots Festival

New Earth Theatre has announced Twisted Roots Festival as a brand-new initiative for the company, dedicated to showcasing new work from its 30th Anniversary Seedfund Artists Incubator programme. Platforming innovation and celebrating British East and Southeast Asian (BESEA) heritage, Twisted Roots Festival takes a fresh approach to promoting ESEA culture as a living, vivid and ever-transforming tapestry.

The Festival will take place across four nights in September - at the Bush Theatre from 3 to 4 September, and Sheffield Theatres from 9 to 10 September. It will feature work-in-progress pieces developed by artists from the company’s year-long Incubator, whose performances fuse western theatre styles with ESEA artforms including Filipino dance, Rakugo comedy and Chinese street puppetry.

Ailin Conant, New Earth Theatre’s Artistic Director, said today, “Twisted Roots was created in direct response to feedback from our artists that they feel stuck between a rock and a hard place when bringing their diaspora cultures into their work.  They are usually invited to "integrate" into existing British theatre which is stripped of BESEA cultural specificity on the one hand, or to present fetishised and archaic ideas of ESEA "authenticity” which deny their contemporary lived experience as Britons on the other. Through Twisted Roots, our incredible artists are bringing 10 exciting new projects grounded in experimentation, innovation, and celebration of our multifaceted cultures as BESEA heritage artists.”