Fuel has announced its fall 2023 work schedule. Favorite Fuel Inua Ellams has three projects including a special edition of his much-loved nocturnal cultural walking tour through urban space The Midnight Run, this time celebrating the revival of the City of London’s famous old Batholomew Fair. Ellams will also present her signature show An Evening with an Immigrant as part of the Bloomsbury Festival as a fundraiser for Choose Love. And finally, a new production of Ellams’ first play, The 14th Tale, will travel to high schools.
The program also features the world premiere of a new work by Racheal Ofori, directed by Emily Aboud. FLIP! examines the relationship between two young black women and their obsession with social media. The play will open in Newcastle at Alphabetti, before playing in Edinburgh at Summerhall and London at Soho Theatre.
Inspired by groundbreaking new research, Motherhood’s Last Taboo? watch Courtney Conrad, Bryony Kimmings, and Sara Sharaawi create audio works that address postnatal mental illness.
Fuel also continues its commitment to help young people in schools across the UK to participate in high-quality live performance.
kate macgrath said: “On the heels of the hits of Hannah Lavery’s Protest and russell tovey and Neil Bartlett‘s BLUE NOW, we are delighted to release Racheal OforiFLIP!, the brilliantly fresh and brilliantly funny new play, as well as new commissions from Courtney Conrad, Bryony Kimmings and Sara Sharaawi, in response to fascinating new research into attitudes towards postpartum depression and psychosis in the UK : The Last Taboo of Motherhood?
We are equally proud to produce work with and for young people in schools across the UK, as well as creating a new version of The Midnight Run for the City of London and supporting Choose Love with a special performance of An Evening with an Immigrant. . .”
FLIP!
in association with Alphabetti
Written by Racheal Ofori
Directed by Emily Aboud
Meet Carleen and Crystal. The influencers with cultural commentary that will blow your mind! Love them or hate them, there’s no stopping their rapidly growing following online.
Offline, Carleen has reservations about her cyber personas, but she idolizes Crystal and would follow her anywhere… even to FLIP!, the new social media giant that has everyone hooked, and Carleen and Crystal don’t. they are an exception; especially when it seems that the videos of her could make them famous.
Superstardom, followers, fame, influence, money – it’s all just a click away. FLIP! It is the answer to everything you have always dreamed of. But is it too good to be true?
FLIP! is a powerful new satire from the critically acclaimed writer Racheal Ofori and director Emily Aboud (winner of the 2021 Evening Standard Future Theater Award) who investigates what it means to live freely under the shadow of social media, invading every aspect of our lives. How can we be ourselves in a world of algorithms trying to prove how disposable we all are?
Co-commissioned by Fuel and Soho Theatre, as part of the Soho Six. With the support of the Cockayne Foundation – Grants for the Arts and The London Community Foundation, Arts Council England, Fenton Arts Trust, the cowardly santa Foundation and the Milk Board.
tour dates
Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle: October 10-28: www.alphabettitheatre.co.uk
Summerhall, Edinburgh: October 31 – November 4:summerhall.co.uk
Soho Theatre, London: November 7-25: www.sohoteatro.com
The last taboo of motherhood?
Written by Courtney Conrad, Bryony Kimmings, and Sara Sharaawi
Inspired by the research of Hilary Marland, Kelly Couzens and Fabiola Creed
How do women tell their own stories about their mental anguish?
The last taboo of motherhood? is a series of three individual audio works illuminating an area of women’s health that has historically been overlooked: postnatal mental illness. The project is based on pioneering research led by Professor Hilary Marland, with Dr Kelly Couzens and Dr Fabiola Creed, and draws on a variety of historical sources, including first-hand accounts from women in Britain’s twentieth century. These pieces investigate vital questions about women’s experiences and the pervasive culture of silence around maternal mental health.
Funded by the Wellcome Trust and the University of Warwick, The Last Taboo in Motherhood? will tour in fall 2023 as a physical installation (venues to be announced). It will also be available to stream as podcasts via Fuel Digital.
Inua Ellams and Fuel present One Night with an Immigrant
Written and performed by Inua Ellams
In association with Choose Love, supporting refugees around the world and the Bloomsbury Festival
With musical selection by DJ Sid Mercutio
Award-winning poet and playwright Inua EllamsBorn to a Muslim father and a Christian mother in what is now considered Boko Haram territory, he left Nigeria for England in 1996 at age 12.
Packed with poems, stories and anecdotes, and updated to include the final chapters of his tale, Inua tells his ludicrous, fantastical and moving immigrant story of escaping fundamentalist Islam, finding friendship in Dublin, going it alone in the national theaterand drinking wine with the Queen of England, all the while without a country to belong to or a place to call home.
This performance is presented in association with the University of London School of Advanced Study, where Inua is a Practitioner in Residence, and Choose Love, an organization that supports refugees and displaced people around the world. Proceeds from this event will go towards the vital work of Choose Love.
Senate House, University of London: October 19, 2023
Fuel and The Midnight Run presents THE BARTHOLOMEW FAIR MIDNIGHT RUN
in the city of london
The Midnight Run is an art-filled, nocturnal cultural walking journey through urban spaces. It brings strangers and local artists together to explore, play and create, while the city sleeps. The Midnight Run aims to break down social barriers and provide a platform for established and emerging creatives, providing moments of genuine interactive creativity. Former Midnight Runners have enjoyed a variety of activities including life drawing, choral singing, puppetry, wrestling, cocktail making, and tai chi, all while exploring a city as a group. The Midnight Run was established by Inua Ellams in 2005, since then 48 events have been held nationally and internationally.
Not all who wander are lost – JRR Tolkien
This special Midnight Run will take you on an adventure to celebrate the revival of London’s old Bartholomew’s Fair in the 21st century of the City of London, exploring the nightlife of the Square Mile, the City of London.
The route will pass iconic city buildings as well as lesser-known nooks and crannies of the Square Mile as we celebrate a return to cultural activity. Come ready to explore, play and create. The Bartholomew Fair Midnight Run will be facilitated by Midnight Run founder, Inua Ellams and two of his former MNR collaborators, Vicky Wright and Kit Caless, who were joined by other local artists.
The Bartholomew Fair Midnight Run has been commissioned by the City of London Corporation for Bartholomew Fair, a three-week extravaganza of performances and cultural events on the Square Mile. The 2023 reimagining of the iconic Bartholomew Fair puts a modern twist on the historic fair in a celebration of the City of London’s heritage and contemporary culture. It is part of the City of London’s Destination City programme, which sets out a vision for the Square Mile to become a world-leading leisure destination for UK and international visitors, workers and residents to enjoy.
August 31 – September 2, 2023
Fueling Change is a new podcast series created and hosted by kate macgrath, which explores the role of the producer. Through interviews and conversations with artists such as khalid abdallaRachel Bagshaw, ESKA and Alan Lane, and producers like Louise Blackwell, anthony gray and Kate Scanlan, Fueling Change looks at the evolution of the producer’s role in live performance over the last twenty years, and what artists need from producers now and in the future.
Co-commissioned by Clore Leadership and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
In the fall, Fuel will also share two new productions with schools across the country: a newly developed digital version of The Day I Fell Into a Book of lewis gibson will tour the classrooms of the primary school for children from 8 to 11 years old in November.
Inua EllamsThe first play The 14th Tale will travel to high schools in a production directed by Thierry Lawson, who directed the Fringe First Award-winning original production for Fuel.
Fuel will also continue to develop new projects with artists across the UK and internationally, through residencies with partners including Hawkwood College and Coombe Farm Studios, and through research and development workshops with artists and communities.
