David Binder Announces Full Lift 2018 Festival Programme

LIFT, London's biennial festival of international theatre, has today announced the full programme for June 2018 and beyond. David Binder, recently announced as Artistic Director of Brooklyn Academy Of Music, curates a festival which spans disciplines and fearlessly plays with form. Through exploring London's local, national and international identity, LIFT opens doors to cultures from across the globe, celebrates shared humanity and challenges preconceptions.

In a city whose beating heart is diversity and at a time that our plural society is under threat, LIFT 2018 will celebrate community in all its forms. Those who are increasingly at risk of marginalisation will be placed at the forefront; stories of displacement from the Congo; revelations of a lost generation in the school-to-prison pipeline in the USA and migrant workers in Qatar. Audiences will confront Dries Verhoeven's societal fears in Phobiarama, dance under the stars to effervescent afrobeats in SESSION and experience a collision of theatre, contemporary music, opera and Korean pansori in contemporary musical Trojan Women.

LIFT last burst across the city in June 2016, the month that saw the Brexit vote passed in the UK and the beginnings of a startling shift in the social-political climate of our world. In the two years that have followed, LIFT has commissioned and programmed works that speak to these changes in a festival of contemporary, international art; a global offering of radically open work to celebrate a multitude of diverse communities and all that unites us rather than divides.

David Binder, Guest Artistic Director, said: "As a New Yorker I've always felt an affinity with London but never more so than in the last two years. Both of these great cities have had their identities challenged by their own countries and are fighting to remain, in all ways, open. It seemed irrefutable that LIFT 2018 would be more urgent and necessary than ever before in its 37 year history.

"We want to offer an antidote to the recent times, giving chances to celebrate our diverse communities, dispel seeded fears and confront preconceptions. From the iconic buildings, renowned stages and unusual, hidden spaces in which our festival takes place, we welcome global citizens to create work as a signifier to everyone; whether you were born here, have made it your home or are just passing through, you belong here."

Halfway through its six-year LIFT Tottenham programme, the LIFT 2018 festival features three Tottenham Original commissions: SESSION, Nightwalks with Teenagers and Small Wonders - works made in collaboration with local artists and communities that demonstrate the diverse and creative power of this area of London. The Tottenham UpLIFTers - a group of 30 teenagers from Duke's Aldridge Academy and The Vale School based on the Northumberland Park Estate, return to the festival following 2016's The Children's Choice Awards, this time with a evening walking tour of the City.

ALL SHOWS ARE NOW ON SALE HERE: https://www.liftfestival.com/whats-on/

Fatherland
Lyric Hammersmith, Lyric Square, King St, London W6 0QL
25 May - 23 June 2018
Mon-Thu & Sat 7.30pm; Fri 8pm
Also Sat & Wed 2.30pm (excluding Sat 26 May & Wed 30 May. No performance on Mon 26 May)
Free First Night: Friday 25 May. For more information: www.lyric.co.uk
Previews: Saturday 26 - Wednesday 30 May 2018
Press Performance: Thursday 31 May at 7pm
Preview Tickets: £15, £20 | Tickets: £15, £20, £25, £35, £40.

Nightwalks with Teenagers
City of London (meeting point TBC)
1 - 3 June, 9pm
Tickets: £10 - £15

Trojan Women
Southbank Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX
2 June, 7.30pm and 3 June, 5pm
Tickets: £22 - £28

Small Wonders
Bernie Grant Arts Centre, Town Hall Approach Rd, London N15 4RX
2 June - 13 July - see website for performance schedule
Tickets: £8 - £12

Creation (Pictures for Dorian)
Southbank Centre, Purcell Room, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX
4 - 7 June, 7.45pm
Tickets £20

These Rooms
Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old St, London EC1V 9LT
4 - 22 June, see website for performance schedule
Tickets: £15 - £20

Phobiarama
King's Cross, West Handyside Canopy, 1 Wharf Rd, Kings Cross, London N1C 4BZ
8 - 18 June, see website for performance schedule
Tickets: £20

Lady Eats Apple
Barbican (Theatre), Silk St, London EC2Y 8DS
14 - 16 June, 7.45pm (2.30pm 15 & 16 June)
Tickets: £25

In Search of Dinozord
The Place, 17 Duke's Rd, Kings Cross, London WC1H 9PY
15 - 16 June, 8pm
Tickets: £13 - £17

Notes From the Field
Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, Chelsea, London SW1W 8AS
13 - 24 June, 7.30pm (2.30pm matinees: 14, 16, 21, 23 June)
Tickets: £12 - £49
Press Performance: 15 June

Fly By Night
East Thamesmead (meeting point TBC)
21 - 23 June, 9.15pm
Tickets £12.50 (other ticket prices with transport packages available)

Mercenary
Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill, London SW11 5TN
21 - 23 June, 7.30pm (23 June, 2pm)
Tickets: £12.50 - £15

SESSION
Bernie Grant Arts Centre Courtyard, Bernie Grant Arts Centre, Town Hall Approach Rd, London N15 4RX
22 - 23 June, 26 & 27 June, 29 - 30 June, 9pm
Tickets: £10 - £15

New International Voices
Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill, London SW11 5TN
22 - 23 June, 9pm
Tickets: Pay What You Can

Nocturne
The Albany, Douglas Way, Deptford, London SE8 4AG
27 - 29 June, 9pm
Tickets: £8 - £12 (tickets will be on sale w/c 5 March)

Taylor Mac : A 24-Decade History of Popular Music: The First Act
Barbican (Theatre, Silk St, London EC2Y 8DS
28 - 30 June, 7.30pm
Tickets: £16 - £60
Press Performance: Thu 28 June

East Wall
Tower of London, St Katharine's & Wapping, London EC3N 4AB
18 - 22 July, 7.30pm
Tickets: £12 - £25