Fit like? A Nicht O Doric New Writing is set to entertain locals at Aberdeen Arts Centre and online.
Stories From The North East is an exciting new festival, which will provide a virtual platform for amateur and professional performers from across the north-east to explore the rich culture, language and stories the region has to offer.
Aberdeen Arts Centre will work with an array of local talent – both amateur and professional – from across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.
Each professional performer will be presenting a selection of poetry, songs, monologues and sketches to reflect our local community, heritage and cultural identity.
Both professional and amateur performers will take part
Amateur performers are invited to select material from the venue’s online catalogue and submit a video of their performance for inclusion in the festival. The selected videos will be uploaded to Aberdeen Arts Centre’s website and shared across the venue’s social media.
The source material focuses on works in Doric and Scots language, but the Arts Centre is looking to work with performers from all backgrounds and cultures who have links to the north-east.
Aberdeen Arts Centre manager Stephanie Walls said: “We would also encourage people to explore new writings and storytelling by creating their own words about what the north-east of Scotland means to them. This may take the form of a spoken word piece, a bothy ballad or a dramatic monologue.”
Festival to provide escapism and entertainment while educating locals
Stories From The North East, supported by The Doric Board, will revolve around storytelling through performance, however, the venue welcomes submissions that explore other mediums such as music and visual arts.
Stephanie added: “The purpose of the festival is to provide escapism and entertainment while serving as an educational tool during these challenging times.
“In a time when audiences and communities are feeling disconnected from arts, culture and each other, we would look to bring people together through the shared experience of theatre and performance.”
The online festival will culminate in a night of live entertainment on August 28 at 7.30pm at the King Street venue. The event will feature performances from professional local talent. Participants include: Sheena Blackhall, Kirsty Florence, Hamish Somers, Joanne Randle, Alec Westwood, Fraser Sivewright, Megan Wright and Ian McCurrach.
Audiences can attend Aberdeen Arts Centre’s socially distanced auditorium in person or stream the evening live online via a ‘pay fit ye can’ ticket. Click here to book tickets.
While theatres in Scotland can be open without social distancing in current level 0, Aberdeen Arts Centre has decided to err on the side of caution and plans to keep some safety measures in place till October. Click here if you wish to read more on the venue’s reasons behind this safe approach.
Aberdeen Arts Centre supports local creative community
Aberdeen Arts Centre also wanted to provide a “much-needed lifeline and development opportunities” to performers from the region.
Stephanie said: “Many professional performers have found their streams of income totally taken away during Covid-19 and we want to provide paid, meaningful performance opportunities to our professional community. We are also providing a creative outlet for amateur performers who are not currently able to attend their performing arts groups.”
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