THE one-of-a-kind TakeOver Festival returns to York Theatre Royal from this evening to Saturday with a programme wholly created, produced and marketed by a company all aged under 26.
Each year since 2009, young theatre practitioners and enthusiasts have taken over the St Leonard's Place theatre – or the National Railway Museum in 2015 – to bring new, innovative theatre and performance art to York.
The 2017 edition is directed by Julia Levia, whose home is in Budapest, Hungary, but is now in the third year of her theatre, writing, performance and directing degree course at the University of York after arriving here at the age of 19.
"Great city, interesting country," she says of her homeland. "We do an equivalent of A-levels, taking six subjects, and I did Maths, Literature, History, Computer Sciences, drama and English Language, so that I could come here able to speak the language."
Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers
Why York? "Like everyone who's coming here from abroad, I thought I'd study in London, like everyone else does, but I was recommended this course in York, and I'm still really happy that I decided to do it," says Julia.
Why pitch to be the TakeOver artistic director in an already busy third year for Julia? "A degree is really important and I do think I have learned loads but I'm doing this degree to be able to work in theatre, and this festival seemed to be the ideal opportunity. I could learn from Damian [artistic director Damian Cruden] and everyone in the building," she says.
"These past eight months have taught me more about the practical art of theatre making than the university course could, but equally I couldn't have applied for the TakeOver post without my university supervisor, Dr Tom Cantrell, telling me about the festival."
Working in tandem with producer Elizabeth Godber (playwright John Godber's daughter), associate producer Edenamiuki Aiguobasinmwin, associate director Katie Smith, general manager Maisie Pearson and head of communications Abigail Hettle, Julia is overseeing TakeOver 2017's programme of arts and crafts, theatre, music, literature and more besides. This year it has the theme of Walls, exploring the stigmas and barriers rife within contemporary society and how we can overcome these challenges.
Sophie Willan
"For my TakeOver interview, I brought a fairly straightforward vision, saying I wanted to build a festival around walls," says Julia. "It felt the right time to do it, and the right place, because where better to do it than in a city famous for its walls, and when better, given all that's happening with Donald Trump and all his talk of building walls? It seemed to be resonant!
"But while the political resonance was fairly obvious, it was a theme you could talk about and interpret in so many different ways."
The festival opens tonight at 7.30pm in the main house with Proper Job Theatre Company’s haunting modern adaptation of the classic story of Medusa. Combining feminist thinking with biomechanics, it seeks to tell the truth behind the "monster" with snakes for hair while breaking down the traditional barriers associated with presenting Medusa.
Tonight too, in The Studio at 7.45pm, Grab 'Em By The Pussy, written and produced by Caroline Buckley, is a serio-comic response to the world’s reaction to Donald Trump’s comment that highlighted the mass normalisation of sexual harassment.
Stand By Theatre's The Room At The Top Of The House
Leeds company Phoenix Dance Theatre return to the Theatre Royal on Wednesday and Thursday at 7.30pm at the start of their new Mixed Programme tour, featuring Calyx, a new piece by Phoenix dancer Sandrine Monin that explores desire; Beast by Douglas Thorpe, which immerses the audience in the darkest reaches of the mind, and Aletta Collins’s Maybe Yes Maybe, Maybe No Maybe with its blend of movement and voices.
In The Studio on Tuesday at 7.45pm, Stand By Theatre Company's devised show, The Room At The Top Of The House, focuses on Josh, who finds the outside world a fascinating and frightening place.
As well as co-ordinating the festival, in her capacity as artistic director, Julia Levai has devised the new drama Amphibious for a 7.45pm Studio performance with a cast of six drawn from York College, York St John University and the University of York. Written and produced by the TakeOver team, this hour-long piece with music by John Chisham considers our relationship with architecture, or more particularly, walls, inspired by research from York residents.
"I chose Amphibious as the title because of its two-sidedness. If you go back to the theme of walls, one side can feel safe, but the wall also represents separation and a barrier to the other side," says Julia.
DugOut Theatre in Swansong
Blogger and zinemaker Megan Vaughan leads an exploration of DIY publications for political and counter-cultural movements and in theatre and arts contexts in the Zine Making and Theatre Criticism IRL in the De Grey Rooms all day on Wednesday and Thursday .
DugOut Theatre present Sadie Spencer and Tom Black's Swansong on Thursday in The Studio in a 7.45pm show that asks what we would remember if we could start again after the rain has finally stopped and four people survive in a swan pedalo.
Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers bring their hair-raising drumming and epic martial-arts performance to the main house next Friday at 7.30pm; earlier that evening, poet Hollie McNish's 6pm Studio slot has sold out. At 9.30pm, in The Studio, Headstrung Puppet Cabaret give cabaret favourites a puppet makeover, injected with a good dose of Headstrung’s signature silliness.
Proper Job Theatre Company in Medusa
The wonder of childhood will be celebrated through interactive play and dance in Rachel Clarke and Hayley Graham's Memory Box next Saturday all day in the theatre's upper foyer. That morning too, at 11am, The Chit Chat Chalk Show and Workshop in the Studio will be a magical chalky adventure presented by Hawk Dance Theatre and The Knotted Project, followed by post-show interactive workshop to dance, draw and play.
Created and performed by Rachel Young and Dwayne Antony, Out, on October 28 at 8pm in The Studio, addresses shape shifting in a bid to fit in; to be black enough, straight enough, Jamaican enough. Late addition Sophie Willan rounds off the festival at 9pm in the main house with On Record, based on her experiences of growing up in care, as she brings her candid, feminist humour to an exposé of her tumultuous adolescence.
Handmade Parade, from Hebden Bridge, join TakeOver for a Lantern Parade through the Museum Gardens that day at 5pm. Lantern-making workshops for people of all ages and abilities are being run all day next Thursday and Friday.
Looking forward to this diverse programme, Julia notes how there is no equivalent festival to TakeOver in her native Hungary. "TakeOver is unique. After coming to York, I remember thinking there's nowhere else I could do this," she says. The idea that five young people can run a professional theatre for a week; nowhere would let you do that. Who would allow young people to take over a building?!"
TakeOver Festival 2017 runs at York Theatre Royal from October 23 to 28. For the full programme, visit yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/page/Take_Over_Festival. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
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