When Fierce Festival debuted back in 1998 (then called Queerfest), it put Birmingham on the map for unusual, edgy and spectacular theatre and performance. Its second edition came with the tagline, ‘the festival that bites’, and the Second City continues to be the place for “trailblazing international performance” in 2024.
Centring black, queer and marginalised bodies more than ever, the 2024 programme – now under the control of new Artistic Director Clayton Lee – brings together over 15 productions at the vanguard of international performance practice. Trailblazing artists from over eight countries, present nine UK premieres and one world premiere across Birmingham.
Taking place over six days (October 15-20), Fierce Festival 2024 will take over iconic Birmingham venues such as Midland Arts Centre, Birmingham Hippodrome, and the Library of Birmingham, with everything from post-apocalyptic futures to viral dance moves, infamous parties, one-to-one listening experiences, reimagined opera, and disability-led pop concerts.
Birmingham’s own Selina Thompson presents her black and disability-led company’s first new theatre show in seven years, Twine, the first since joining Arts Council England’s National Portfolio in 2023. It’s a show about adoption, families and the power of the state. Joining performances from international pioneers like Joshua Serafin (Philippines), Dana Michel (Canada), Jeremy Nedd (USA) and Tiran Willemse (South Africa) on the programme.
Clayton Lee, Artistic Director of Fierce Festival, said:
In a moment where we are teetering on the precipice – global violence, Birmingham’s effective bankruptcy, and the creeping financial precarity of our sector – this programme is a love letter to the act of making, witnessing, and gathering at the edges of contemporary performance. I love these artists and they give us reason to continue: to indulge in the stickiness of the unknown and to insist on ways of moving through the world.
You can also get involved with several shows at this year’s Fierce Festival. Adam Kinner and Christopher Willes’ MANUAL invites audiences to a one-to-one meditative listening and reading experience at the Library of Birmingham. Sheila Ghelani responds to Birmingham’s gun trade, in the world premiere of Softly/Tenderly, by inviting participants to practice metalworking with tenderness.
In other performances, Jeremy Nedd’s from rock to rock …aka how magnolia was taken for granite reinterprets the viral hip-hop dance move the Milly Rock; Keioui Keijaun Thomas’s, three-part film and multimedia installation, Come Hell or High Femmes imagines a post-apocalyptic world exclusively inhabited by Black trans and queer people; and Norwegian-Jamaican performer Harald Beharie makes his UK debut with his extremely physical and brutal solo show, Batty Bwoy.
Fierce Festival 2024 listings:
Listening to D’Angelo (Edward George)
Jennifer Black Well Space, Symphony Hall
Tuesday 15 October, 7:30pm (2 hours)
MANUAL (Adam Kinner and Christopher Willes)
The Library of Birmingham
Tuesday 15 October – Friday 19 October, every 15 mins from 11am – 4pm
Twine (Selina Thompson)
Legacy Centre of Excellence
Wednesday 16 October – Friday 19 October, 7pm daily plus 2pm on 19 October (90 mins)
Common Salt (Sheila Ghelani and Sue Palmer)
The Exchange, Centenary Square
Wednesday 16 October, 5pm and 9pm (65 mins)
Softy/Tenderly (Sheila Ghelani)
Venue to be announced
Thursday 17 October, 12-6pm (1 hour intervals)
Batty Bwoy (Harald Beharie)
Patrick Studio, Birmingham Hippodrome
Wednesday 16 October – Thursday 17 October, 9pm (75 mins)
from rock to rock …aka how magnolia was taken for granite (Jeremy Nedd)
Birmingham Conservatoire
Thursday 17 October, 7pm (75 mins)
Entepfuhl (Alina Arshi)
Festival Hub, Birmingham Black Box Theatre
Thursday 17 October, 11pm (20 mins)
Silenzio! (Ramona Nagabczyńska)
CBSO Centre
Friday 18 October, 5:30pm (60 mins)
put your heart under your feet… and walk! (Steven Cohen)
Midland Arts Centre
Friday 18 October, 8pm (60 mins)
Come Hell or High Femmes (Keioui Keijaun Thomas)
Festival Hub, Birmingham Black Box Theatre
Friday 18 October, 10:30pm (80 mins)
MIKE (Dana Michel)
Iron House
Saturday 19 October, 2-5pm
Untitled (Nostalgia, Act 3) (Tiran Willemse)
ACE Dance and Music
Saturday 19 October, 12pm and Sunday 20 October, 3:30pm (70 mins)
PEARLS (Joshua Serafin)
Patrick Studio, Birmingham Hippodrome
Saturday 19 October, 9pm (90 mins)
Zer-brech-lich (Alessandro Schiattarella)
Midland Art Centre
Saturday 19 October, 7pm and Sunday 20 October, 2pm (65 mins)
Club Fierce
Ample, Princip Street
Saturday 19 October, 10:3pm till late
You’ll find the main Festival Hub at the Birmingham Black Box Theatre. Each event it individually ticketed, but many are free. To learn more about Fierce Festival and to get tickets head here.