11 November 2024
Newsdesk
On the tail-end of a packed year of 50th anniversary celebrations, Battersea Arts Centre (BAC) looks ahead to another exciting chapter in 2025.
Highlights include:
10 years since its first premiere at Battersea Arts Centre (BAC), Lost Dog’s Paradise Lost (lies unopened beside me) returns, reimagined with new cast member Olivier award nominee Sharif Afifi (The Band’s Visit)
Award-winning dance theatre company Thick and Tight present the World Premiere of Natural Behavior, commissioned by BAC
The UK Premiere of slasher-horror Burnt Toast by Norwegian theatre-makers Susie Wang continues BAC’s commitment to platforming international work.
Presented as part of London Games Festival side events programme, from Canada, artists Patrick Blenkarn & Milton Lim present asses.masses: a 7-hour gaming experience
BAC’s Homegrown Festival returns for another year, showcasing performances and creative projects from London’s next generation of artists.
With productions from critically acclaimed British companies and international artists, the old Battersea Town Hall will be filled with dance, drag and disruptive performance from February 2025.
Continuing their commitment to accessible pricing, tickets for shows in BAC’s Spring 2025 season are offered on a Pay What You Can basis.
Marking 10 years since its first premiere, award-winning dance theatre company Lost Dog return with original BAC co-commission Paradise Lost (lies unopened beside me). Reimagined for new audiences as part of their 2024/25 tour, this homecoming production will feature new cast member Olivier award nominee Sharif Afifi (The Band’s Visit).
In a new BAC commission, award-winning Thick & Tight (Tits & Teeth) bring their signature mix of dance, satire, impersonation and drag to the World Premiere of Natural Behaviour: a queer look at what it means to be natural or unnatural within ecology and society.
Having performed at the Here & Now showcase at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024, Wet Mess (Sound of the Underground, Galatea) opens the season with TESTO. Exploring transitions, testosterone and the edges of drag, TESTO treads the blurry line between performance and reality in a dynamically designed club night-cum-cabaret.
Winners of The Stage’s International Award earlier this year, BAC will host the UK Premiere of Burnt Toast, from Norwegian theatre makers Susie Wang. Straddling body horror and B-Movie cliches, Burnt Toast will run for two nights in BAC’s Grand Hall.
BAC will also welcome back Bolivian British artist Jenni Jackson with WRESTLELADSWRESTLE, drawing on her real-life teenage career as the under 50kg British Judo Champion, and Marikiscrycrycry with the visceral, choreographed Goner.
Continuing to champion young voices, Homegrown Festival returns in April, curated by BAC’s latest cohort of Next Gen Producers from their in-house development programme. Over 15 weeks, a collective of 18 – 29-year-olds from South London will collaborate to curate a BAC takeover, giving licence to emerging producers to explore new mediums and create boundary-pushing new work.
Pelin Basaran, Battersea Arts Centre’s Head of Programming, said:
“We’re incredibly proud to present a lineup of extraordinary performances from the UK and around the world in our Spring programme. This season explores the complexities of human connection, transformation, the power of dreaming and the capacity of the imagination to create alternative selves and worlds. From a new BAC commission by Thick & Tight making its World Premiere, to Lost Dog marking 10 years of its hugely successful BAC co-commission Paradise Lost, this season exemplifies our long-standing commitment to artist development as we look to 2025 and beyond.”
