Edinburgh Fringe: Catch these international performances from artists around the world – new for Fringe 2023
The international digital showcase Voices from the South is premiering 15 new online performance works from Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The works span performance art, theatre, music, dance, digital and multi-disciplinary performance.
Voices from the South was inspired by pandemic-era conversations between the partnering organisations São Paulo International Theatre Festival, MITsp (Brazil), Pickle Factory Dance Foundation (India), La Teatrería (Mexico), The Baxter Theatre Center (South Africa), the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society and Magnetic North Theatre Company (both Scotland).
The project wanted to explore ways in which it could break down some of the significant barriers to participation at the Edinburgh Fringe faced by artists and creatives from what is sometimes referred to as the “Global South” - a group of countries with similar socio-economic characteristics including geographical, financial, language and access.
The group began a project in which artists visited each other’s regions virtually across time zones and language barriers, peer-supported by a series of online “visits” and sharing sessions while developing their work.
Now, after 18 months of exchange and conversation between the artists, the digital showcase is ready for this year’s Fringe.
The curating organisations behind the digital showcase
The artists participating in Voices from the South are originally live performers. Some have worked with the digital medium before but others are doing so for the first time.As such, their works investigates the possibilities – and shortcomings – of the online medium, and offers a radical rethinking of story-telling. their works investigates the possibilities – and shortcomings – of the online medium, and offers a radical rethinking of story-telling.
Themes explored in the programme include technology, identity, community, social justice, labour and working conditions, tradition, history, sustainability, immigration and relationships.
The Baxter Theatre Centre, Cape Town
It is a vibrant, multicultural theatre and entertainment hub in the southern suburbs of Cape Town. The digital shows are:
- AnotherKind (theatre): Amy Louise Wilson / Aphiwe Livi, Cape Town, South Africa
- Ethnoscape (music): Elvis Sibeko, Cape Town, South Africa
- Still Connecting... (theatre): Faye Kabali Kagwa, Cape Town, South Africa
Pickle Factory Dance Foundation, Calcutta
Pickle Factory is a hub for dance and movement practice, discourse and presentation housed in spaces repurposed for the arts in Calcutta. It is known as a space to think, meet, know, talk, imagine dance. The digital shows are:
- Corona Cha Tamasha (theatre): Kali Billi Productions, Mumbai, India
- Hallucinations of an Artifact (dance): Mandeep Raikhy, New Delhi, India
- How long is February? A fantasy in three parts (theatre): Qabila, Bangalore, India
- Maati Katha (Earth Stories) (theatre): Tram Arts Trust, New Delhi / Mumbai, India
- The Ostracised Guardian (music): Tenma and Gana Muthu, Chennai, India
La Teatrería, Mexico City
La Teatrería is an independent theatre space located in the iconic neighbourhood of La Roma in Mexico City. Since it opened eight years ago, it has been presenting local, national and international artists in its three venues: Sala A, Sala B and its unique Teatro de Aparador (window theatre). The digital shows are:
- Amanda Tovalin: Música Verde (Green Music) (music): Amanda Tovalin, Mexico City, Mexico
- Conquest of Bread / Conquista del pan (theatre): Community art collective Lxs de Abajo / Colectivo de arte comunitario Lxs de Abajo, San Juan de Abajo, León, Guanajuato, México
- Variaciones sobre el Café (theatre): Mariana Blanco, Oaxaca, Mexico
- Viaje al Centro de Alhijara (theatre): Pequeños Creadores Teatro, Guadalajara, México
São Paulo International Theatre Festival, Brazil
Since its first edition, in 2014, São Paulo International Theatre Festival (MITsp) has brought key names of the contemporary international production to Brazil, focusing on performing arts experimentation. The digital shows at the Fringe are:
- I AM NOT JUST ME IN ME - State of nature - procedure 01 (dance): GRUPO CENA 11, Florianópolis, Brazil
- Dibubuísmos (performance): Maurise Maués, Belém, Brazil
- Deeper - demo version (theatre) Janaína Leite, São Paulo, Brazil
Find out more about the artists and how to watch their work
Voices from the South has been co-delivered between the partner organisations alongside Edinburgh-based Magnetic North Theatre Company and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society.
The showcase has been made possible by the generous support of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (with Arts Council England) and the British Council.
The timings and dates for the shows vary, with many of them performed on demand. To find out more, visit the website Voices from the South