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August 17, 2017

BREVIEW: Goodnight Lenin @ Hare & Hounds 11.08.15

Words by Damien Russell / Pics by Michelle Martin

You know that moment when you find a band and think ‘I really must go and see them sometime’? Do it. Go and see them. Don’t ‘catch them next time’, or wait until you’re not ‘too tired’ for a non-work night, or whatever else it is that you tell yourself to give you an excuse to be lazy. Go out of your front door, down the road by whatever your chosen method is, and see them.

This is the lesson I have been teaching myself, painstakingly, over the last 12-18 months and never was it more poignant than with Goodnight Lenin.

I first came across the musical strains of Goodnight Lenin in 2015 and the video I found online had been up for two years already at that point. I liked it, got the album and kept an eye on their social media for when they might be about. Sometime later, after nothing had materialised, I had stopped being so diligent in my approach and waited for something to just pop up in the ether and grab me which, of course, it never did. And now in August 2017 I have finally made it to a Goodnight Lenin gig for the first and probably last time.

Not for lack of quality or enjoyment, you understand, but because I left it too long and this gig is currently set to be their last. The creative flame is a delicate thing, to be nurtured lest it fade away out of sight, and while I don’t know all of the reasoning behind this hiatus in the Goodnight Lenin story I sincerely hope that lack of support isn’t part of it.

All of these things and more are running through my head as I make my way to the Hare & Hounds in Kings Heath and up the stairs to the far room. This taller and more impressive of the Hare & Hounds stages is already fully set up and the lights (full disco ball included) are heightening the atmosphere of anticipation. Very fitting, and while the room is surprisingly only about a third full it’s early and there’s still a feeling of electricity in the air. Predictably, I move to the bar and get a pint while I wait for the inevitable rush and for the proceedings to… well, proceed.

About 15 minutes later Katherine Priddy takes the stage. She is to perform seated, which is a nice low-key start to the evening and working to my expectation that musically the event is set to build with each act. As she starts I become acutely aware that she has a very good voice (clean and clear, slightly ethereal) and a complex finger picking guitar playing style – the combination of which make her songs seem both simple and intricate at the same time. A hush settles over the room as she plays, receiving enthusiastic applause at the end of each song.

While I admit Katherine Priddy is an excellent opening act for an evening headlined by a full band, I can’t say that she would be out of place as a headliner and I could easily imagine her on the Cropredy Folk Festival or Beautiful Days stages. Priddy’s set is well thought out and, even containing two songs based around Greek mythology, manages to be relatable and engaging. Doing some YouTube searching post-gig, I’m pleased to find a cover of ‘Beeswing’ that justifies the fact I was comparing Richard Thompson and Katherine Priddy in my head during the set.

After a short break, Boat To Row start to plug in and tune up. Lead singer/rhythm guitarist, Michael King, joined Katherine Priddy for her final song so I have an idea what to expect. Although now King has changed into his gig outfit and is joined by the full band, so it’s a fresh introduction and a fuller sound. A bit too full if I’m honest.

I find Boat to Row provide that particular brand of folk where the songs are quite busy, with several different melodies present at once. I can’t deny that as a band they work very well together, and the precision in such detailed song writing can’t be understated, but I find it hard to grab a ‘hook’ in most of their songs and found them too ‘art for art’s sake’ for my taste (‘chorus, for God’s sake’ I find myself thinking, stealing 10cc lyrics). My favourite song of theirs is the penultimate in tonight’s set – a new number called ‘Fairies Flaws’, I believe, that has a funky undertone and quite a driving tempo, standing out as the most accessible to an uninitiated listener.

And then, of course, our main event. The room has been filling up more and more over the course of the evening and at this point it’s roughly three quarters full. And by full, I mean having your toes stood on and breathing the hair of the person in front of you because that’s the only space left in the room.

*At this point, I would like to take a moment to thank the three women by the bar who were loudly and relentlessly cackling and bumping into my friend and I. Without your inconsiderate rudeness, we would have stayed put by the PA and not moved further into the crowd. We got the best of the atmosphere where we moved to so you did us a favour, in a way. I hope you got your money’s worth of being shushed and glared at because I know I wasn’t the only one who called you out on your nonsense.

Goodnight Lenin are a wall of sound. It’s the only way I can describe it. The sound has been good all night, but Goodnight Lenin are a cut above and their depth and ‘fullness’ is noticeable against the other acts on the bill this evening. I listen hard and I can pick out every instrument individually, which is my test of a well-mixed band. Impressive work from Jon Nash on the desk too.

The band are in good form and seem to want to send themselves off in style. They tell us they have an extended set planned including some covers and all the ‘hits’ from the new and old original material. And they’re not kidding. Goodnight Lenin move through the set smoothly and confidently, and from their In the Fullness of Time album I pick out the familiar strains of ‘The Constant Lover’, ‘Weary’ and ‘Cautionary Tale’ among others.

In particular, ‘The Reason’ was blindingly good – a song that is a real treat to listen to live. As was ‘Old Cold Hands’ with its anthemic ending, a near ‘lighters in the air’ moment. Sadly they don’t play my personal favourite, ‘Tell-tale Heart’. But it is quite slow one and I didn’t really expect them to. They can be forgiven.

There are songs I’ve never heard in tonight’s set as well, perhaps not being as much of a die-hard fan as I might have been; ‘Wenceslas Square’ being an easy one to pick out as it was an audience request. While they may well have played it anyway, the fact that Goodnight Lenin asked for requests and then actually played one is a nice touch and not something all bands do.

From the newer material we are treated to live versions of ‘Desire’ and ‘Portrait of Youth’, with the fresher faced tracks standing up against the tried and tested classics. Were I bolder, I might venture the opinion that perhaps the new songs don’t quite cut it as well. But honestly, I think that’s only because I’m so familiar with the older ones.

Covers-wise, we are treated to Neil Young’s ‘Helpless’, where Goodnight Lenin are joined by Katherine Priddy and Boat to Row for a huge multi-band rendition and a nice rock oriented version of ‘Come Together’. A solid nod in the direction of the bands that have inspired them over the years.

There’s a lull in the set somewhere in the middle, when some technical issues occur, and Liam is forced to use a guitar kindly lent by Boat to Row. No idea what happened to his as it just seemed to give up between songs (although it was very considerate of it to wait until the previous song had finished). John did a good job of keeping the set going with his comfortable patter and a couple of solo songs, but it is an inevitable come-down in an otherwise high octane set. A shame but nothing that could have been helped, I imagine, and these things do happen.

Ending with ‘Without You’, the band invite their sound technician, Jon Nash, onto the stage wielding a black Telecaster – bringing the lesser-spotted member of the Goodnight Lenin family into the limelight for this swansong.

And then it’s over.

Goodnight Lenin put on a cracking show and despite the technical issues kept things flowing very well. If I had to offer a criticism, it would be that the set went on too late and people had to leave before the end for buses and trains home. A shame, in a way, but one not easily combated.

For some reason it was one of those gigs where I thought I knew what to expect; I had it in my head that it would be packed from the outset, that musically it would build and build and then Goodnight Lenin would hit the stage hard, smash through their set to rapturous applause and then do two, maybe three, encores before bidding us a fond farewell. But it was so much more than that. So much more personal.

Tonight was more than just a last gig, it was a real goodbye. I’m sure every Goodnight Lenin fan would join me in wishing them the very best of luck in whatever they choose to do from now until the reunion (fingers crossed) and while I can’t stop feeling the edge of sadness, I’m glad I’ll be able to say I was there, the day a chapter in Birmingham’s musical history closed.

For more on Goodnight Lenin, visit www.soundcloud.com/goodnightlenin

For more on Boat To Row, visit www.soundcloud.com/boat-to-row

For more on Katherine Priddy, visit www.soundcloud.com/katherine-priddy

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For more from the Hare & Hounds, including full event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk

For more from Moseley Folk, visit www.moseleyfolk.co.uk

August 12, 2017

BREVIEW: Regina Spektor @ Symphony Hall 05.08.17

Words by Paul Gallear / Lead pic by Michelle Martin – taken for Express & Star

A man, younger than I am but around the same height, is wondering around the streets of Sheffield, slightly lost. He has recently started university and is still unfamiliar with his surroundings.

Shuffling through the snow, he passes The Leadmill – a long-established music venue in the city. ‘TONIGHT: REGINA SPEKTOR’ proclaims the poster by the door. Amazed at his luck he calls around all of his newly-made university friends, trying to find someone to go to the gig with. Either no one is available or they are unwilling to take a risk on a last-minute invitation to an unknown gig. Undeterred, the young man queues that evening in the chilly northern air to try and get a ticket on the door. His luck is in.

It was 20.02.07 and that was the first time I saw Regina Spektor live, touring her 2006 album – Begin to Hope. Ten-and-a-half years later I again had the chance to see her in concert, this time touring her seventh studio release – Remember Us to Life. Nothing would be left to chance this time; I had signed up to the mailing lists and was ready with my unique verification code when the pre-sale opened at 9am.

I managed to secure prime seats a mere six rows back (not too close, not too far) and just off-centre in Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, a larger and more prestigious venue than The Leadmill. Hosting the likes of Marina Medvetskaya’s Saint Petersburg Classic Ballet and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphony Hall claims to be ‘widely considered one of the finest concert halls in the world’ and their website lists an impressive set of acoustic specifications (all of the venues on Regina Spektor’s six date UK tour are more up-market than they were a decade ago). Sporting my by now vintage Soviet Kitsch album T-shirt from the Sheffield gig, I survey the stage: a black Steinway & Sons grand piano, a monikered drum kit, a cello, a guitar, and a keyboard. Can that be the same piano stool as last time? Am I dreaming? Musicians can be creatures of habit.

Despite this being a show without support and having a tightly-scheduled start and finish time, Regina Spektor takes to the stage half-an-hour late. The room is not quite sold out, but the anticipation has built and Spektor enters stage right to rapturous applause and cheers. She and the band burst into ‘The Calculation’.

Full disclosure. Some of the tracks from Regina Spektor’s latest album haven’t struck a great chord with me; it is the album I have listened to least frequently. The opening half of tonight’s set is, as you’d expect, laden with these new tracks (such as ‘Grand Hotel’, ‘Tornadoland’ and ‘The Light’) which are performed to an enthusiastic audience. I even find myself enjoying these songs live in a way I hadn’t enjoyed recorded. But during these early numbers I pick up on a buzzing sound which is surprising from a venue that boasts about its acoustics – I would have expected perfection.

The set is diverse. Regina Spektor is of course always present, but she is either backed by the entire band whilst she plays piano and sings, or abandons the piano and sings more like a pop star with a backing band. Her playing has few audible mistakes and the cello playing is, I’m reliably informed, very good. For other tracks, such as ‘That Time’, she abandons the piano all together and picks up the guitar. But for me some of the best and most successful tracks are when the band leaves and Spektor plays such song as ‘Après Moi’ unaccompanied (how many songs can you name which feature three different languages?).

The quiet nature of the audience between songs is not something I’m used to (being a frequenter of more rock-orientated concerts) but Regina Spektor manages to hold the atmosphere. That’s not to say that she is entirely silent in these short gaps. “Do you have a train to catch?” she sasses when an audience member calls for ‘Samson’, a track which would be played (inevitably) as part of the encore.

There is even an endearing moment of humour at the beginning of ‘Don’t Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas)’ a favourite track of mine from Begin to Hope, when Spektor forgets her own lyrics; cue a great moment of audience interaction as she calls out for prompts. But I do get the feeling that a lot of these songs have stories behind them that I would have loved Regina Spektor to have gone into, giving us a little insight into her life and writing process.

Nor does she forget where she is; giving a nod to the Birmingham audience by mentioning that local boy Jeff Lynne (of E.L.O fame) had been a producer on her album Far, Spektor bursts in ‘Folding Chair’ – a bouncy crowd-pleaser.

As I mentioned, Regina Spektor ends her encore with perhaps her most famous and most enduring song, ‘Samson’ (after ‘Us’ that is, which was performed with aplomb just before exiting the stage for the first time). I’m not a fan of the trite modern assumption that artists will play always an encore at the end of the set, but nothing could have pleased me more than to have seen Spektor’s ruby-red shoes patter across the stage once more to retake their place on the piano’s sustain pedal. The audience are on their feet at the end of the show and it is thoroughly deserved.

Adding a band to her live shows, Regina Spektor has developed a more complex and mature sound in the last decade. But I can’t help wonder if something of the arty rawness and fun of her earlier performances might have been lost along the way. Spektor has come a long way since emerging from the anti-folk scene in downtown New York’s East Village, and she does concentrate on her work from the previous three albums rather than delving into her archives.

Back in Sheffield we stood in awe as Regina Spektor, bandless, thwacked out a rhythm on her piano stool using a drumstick; in Birmingham we sit as she and her band play through a largely flawless set. Though I don’t leave disappointed, I am greedy. I would like a second show, more stripped back without a band and with a smaller audience, during which she could reconnect with her roots. A boy can dream.

Thoroughly satisfied that my high expectations have been met, I leave the venue clutching a new t-shirt. Hopefully I won’t have to wait another decade to wear it to one of her concerts.

For more on Regina Spektor, visit www.reginaspektor.com

For more from the Town and Symphony Halls, including full event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.thsh.co.uk

For more from SJM Concerts/Gigs & Tours, visit www.gigsandtours.com

August 10, 2017August 10, 2017

BREVIEW: An American Werewolf in London @ Dudley Castle 05.08.17

Words by Molly Forsyth

Reclining in my camping chair, I look across to my right at one of the ruinous baileys of Dudley Castle. A full moon sits ominously to the side, peering neatly over a grey cloud. Poetic, I think, for such a night as this.

I sit at Dudley Castle with hundreds of others (999 more, according to the ticket sales – Ed) for a screening of the 1981 cult classic film, comedy-horror An American Werewolf in London, hosted by Flatplack.

The open-air cinema event has the crowd abuzz; hives of Black Country folk swarm the bars and food stands, symbols of the occult are beamed on the walls, and the blow-up screen beams the iconic face of the ravenous lycanthrope that gave many people nightmares over 35 years ago.

The event opens with the much-lauded 2011 short film Howl, telling the tale of a young mother in denial of her daughter’s feral tendencies, from rampantly drinking water out of the toilet bowl to feeding from the pet dog amongst her puppies. Conflicted by her duties as a parent, the mother eventually accepts her daughter’s truth as a creature of the night, choosing to let her live freely as a werewolf rather than repress her.

Howl refrains from invoking plain-faced terror and instead explores the quietly-ignored horror of social denigration of those who are different, all through the eyes of a loved one. Natalie Bettelheim and Sharon Michaeli’s seven-minute feature is an able demonstration of how less is more, creating suspense, pathos and ultimately catharsis for its subject with a limited monochromatic palette and simplistic, hand-drawn animations.

Next is a more in-your-face spectacle, the full version of Michael Jackson’s music video masterpiece, Thriller. Thriller is director John Landis’ other most famous work aside from American Werewolf in London, and proves to be just as entertaining as it was in 1983. It strikes me upon viewing how rare it is to see such a complete conceit as Thriller in modern day pop culture.

From the wry inclusion of horror film icon Vincent Price, to the iconic dance of the zombie troupes as they descend upon Jackson’s helpless cinema date, every detail is accounted for in the full 14-minute run. While music videos are used more as a marketing ploy these days, Thriller remains a work of art in its own right and deserves its legend status judging by the audience members up on their feet.

Before An American Werewolf in London’s opening shots of the moors roll out on screen, an introductory video from John Landis himself plays for the crowd. In an unexpected treat, Landis jokes about the zoo setting for tonight, and warns the crowd to stick to the roads in a sly nod to the fates of David Hessler and Jack Goodman on their Yorkshire trip.

As American Werewolf in London is screened, the audience screech and wail their way through the 90-minute romp. There’s laughter at rotting corpses confronting the tortured David in the middle of a moral crisis at an adult cinema, and some fright as he makes his graphic transformation into the titular wolf and stalks his pray through the deserted Tube and Regent’s Park.

The communal element to tonight’s fun plays on my mind. For many sitting with me within the castle remains tonight, this screening is a moment of sweet nostalgia. We all share the experiences of sneaking into the forested grounds at night, looking over the houses of Dudley and getting our kicks from ghastly and grim folklore born from the castle with over a millennium of history to its name. Indeed, An American Werewolf in London is a film from some of our youths that compounds the chills and scares we indulged in recklessly, which makes tonight all the more valuable to this town.

All in all, tonight is a resounding success. Following their screening of Bride of Frankenstein last year, Flatpack have put on another fun event that is part of Dudley’s commitment to bringing its nightlife and entertainment offering back to its former glory.

My only critique is that this needs to be done more often. With Hallowe’en around the corner, there are opportunities here for Dudley to make the most of its medieval history with more creative events such as these, and I sincerely hope they do so.

For more from Flatpack, including their Assemble screenings and ongoing projects outside of the festival, visit www.flatpackfestival.org.uk

For more from Dudley Castle, visit www.dudleyzoo.org.uk/dudley-castle

July 14, 2017July 27, 2017

BREVIEW: BE FESTIVAL …Friday 07.07.17

Words by Damien Russell / Pics courtesy of BE FESTIVAL

It’s day four of the Birmingham European Festival (or BE FESTIVAL for short) and having been lucky enough to interview the festival directors Isla Aguilar and Miguel Oyarzun, I am keen to see how the event delivers the ‘dizzying array of entertainment’ that the programme has promised us.

As usual, I get lost walking through Birmingham (using whichever car park is cheapest has its challenges) but still make it in plenty of time and having been pre-warned that the event entrance is at the back of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, I wander round and in. The setting has been described in Wednesday night’s BREVIEW from Paul Gallear but I would add that the visual art exhibitions are largely all interactive and nobody is left without something to enjoy, be it bar, video or art experience.

In good time, the call is made that the doors are open and though the event has unallocated seating it’s a well-natured queue. As there are four acts on per night it is understandable that the stage we are presented with on entry is quite stark and devoid of props; clean changeovers must be key to the timing of each night. This does, of course, lead me to think about what clever uses of staging we can expect, and that to me is always one of the joys of what I would be tempted to term ‘lo-fi’ theatre.

The format of the night remains the same as the previous nights and we begin our four-act lineup with Claudia Catarzi’s 40,000 Centimetri Quadrati – a dance piece that begins with minimalist movement and sound, yet flourishes into a fully musically backed performance that uses the full extent of the stage. The stage itself contains only an approximately 8ft square boarded section; Catarzi begins her piece moving within this area with uncertain, almost unnatural movements – more automaton than dancer, at times using what I would associate with the circus skill Isolation.

As the piece develops Catarzi explores the extents of this confined space, expanding her movements and increasing her fluidity to match the build in sound and lighting effects – until, eventually, she breaks free of the 8ft square board and her movements are almost jubilant. The message seems clear to me and while the idea of breaking ‘out of the box’ is certainly not a new one, it has never been presented to me in such a format before; I found the piece captivating in presentation, clearly understandable and overall, very engaging. Something as I will freely admit is unexpected; dance is not a medium that has ever really appealed.

As is typical for BE FESTIVAL we are asked to leave while the stage is re-set and it’s an opportunity to reflect and discuss what we just experienced. No bad thing. As we re-enter the auditorium, ODC Ensemble are onstage and performing an almost ‘on-hold’ introductory part of their act which is a nice touch. The stage is almost split into thirds: musical equipment to the left, a table with a 3D cardboard cityscape in the centre, with another table containing a laptop, small camera and some other technological items beyond my comprehension on the right. Each section has its own performer and while they are separate to a degree, they interact in turn throughout the show.

ODC Ensemble’s show, REVOLT ATHENΣ, concerns Athens and is thematically in three parts: Athens as presented to and seen by tourists, the darker Athens behind that and, the Athens that the people there live in/with. Deeply moving at times, we are reminded that this Mediterranean paradise has the same issues as any major city and in some cases, worse. There is a stark emotional transition mid-way through, as the recent riots and political unrest in the nation are presented ‘warts and all’, but it gets a bit surreal after this mid-point and to my mind loses some of the impact of the piece. If grunge were theatre this would be it; excellent concept, important message, Marmite execution.

And then we break for lunch; dining on the main stage of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre isn’t something I do every day so, quite looking forward to it, I wend my way in. The room is as I would expect – it’s mass catering and a bit ‘school dinner’ feeling, but done well enough. Plenty of salad and bread on offer, the main dish comes hot and the staff are attentive. None of the performers sit at our table, which is a bit of a disappointment, but nevertheless, hunger abated, we return to a stage which now contains an unusual array of objects: a small paddling pool, several jugs of water, a table with ping-pong equipment and juggling rings and a flip-chart on a stand.

This of course is the setting to What Does Stuff Do? performed by Robin Boon Dale, intriguingly advertised as ‘using innovative juggling, physical comedy and almost-philosophy’. And I’m certainly not disappointed. Dale is an engaging performer, eloquent and disarming, and his performance moves through a number of circus acts and prat-falls designed to display items and acts we can easily recognise, yet modified and taken out of context to challenge perception.

Dale moves through his act smoothly, dazzling us with his skills and making us laugh with his mishaps. I am never certain if any of these mishaps are actually accidental or if they are all for effect and that is part of the charm of the performance. Perhaps not the most emotionally challenging act of the night, I nevertheless feel What Does Stuff Do? is the most entertaining and Dale’s point is clear – every new scenario offers us a new opportunity to be who/what we want to be in the context of what is around us, which is a valuable life lesson in evaluating our actions. Dale describes himself and us all as ‘tools’ in the context of his philosophical point; never have I been called a tool in a more appropriate and enjoyable manner.

There is no break between What Does Stuff Do? and Waiting for Schrödinger, our final staged act of the evening; Timothy and the Things enter the stage, backs to the audience to begin their predominantly dance related act. It’s never made clear who Timothy is and who are the Things, but as the first group performance which is not lead by one of the cast over the others, who is who is clearly not important.

The group move through a surrealistic show where interactions between them are designed to apply the Schrödinger’s Cat theory to a more realistic scenario. I find myself more affected by the surrealism of it than the message for much of the performance, I must admit. But the message is still there as we see cast members dealing with isolation, exclusion and vying for dominance before being pushed away.

Waiting for Schrödinger moves in ‘scenes’, and while each scene is well put together some of the transitions feel clumsy at times. The last slot of the night is always a tough one to have, tougher than the first in some ways, and while not a bad performance or a bad piece of work Waiting for Schrödinger unfortunately doesn’t quite top the bill for me.

Before it’s time to go home we take part in the BE FESTIVAL’s commissioned British Enough? ‘immersive experience’. The show begins and almost immediately I am put in mind of The Running Man by Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King) and George Orwell’s 1984 having a baby, and that baby growing up in Harry Harrison’s Make Room, Make Room.

Moving through the previously inaccessible backstage areas of the theatre we are treated to a dystopian view of what entering the British Isles could be like, where immigrants, migrants and asylum seekers are forced to compete against each other (and the state) in an intense and disconcerting environment.

The performance by Kristina Cranfield and Foolish People is excellent and British Enough? is certainly immersive. I must admit, I had been expecting something more educational about our current situation than this extreme future representation and I can’t help but feel the piece ends a little weakly. But as a lover of immersive theatre I’m certainly not disappointed.

‘Groundbreaking’ or ‘artsy’ theatre can be a little hit and miss, and even though an event like BE FESTIVAL has a screening process for acts there’s still always a risk of something not being to your taste or even just being too unobtainable/obscure. But my experience of BE FESTIVAL 2017 is that while the programme pushes the boundaries of traditional performance, it remains vigilant in keeping things accessible to a broad range of people.

There are things I didn’t ‘get’ entirely and things I didn’t like entirely, but nothing alienates me entirely; as a new audience member, there was plenty that actively encourages participation and engagement. So if a challenging but accessible series of thought provoking acts sounds like something you would enjoy, BE FESTIVAL is an event to fix in your calendar for 2018.

For more on BE Festival, including a full event programme and online ticket sales, visit www.befestival.org

For more from the Birmingham REP, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk

July 14, 2017July 27, 2017

BREVIEW: BE FESTIVAL …Wednesday 04.07.17

Words by Paul Gallear / Pics courtesy of BE FESTIVAL

We can’t avoid Europe these days: it’s in our parliaments, our newspapers, and our consciousness; on our television screens, our news bulletins, and our ballot papers. And now it’s in our theatres too.

BE FESTIVAL (Birmingham European Festival) landed in Birmingham for its seventh year on 4^th July, aiming to bring with it, according to their website, ‘a daring and innovative programme of boundary pushing theatre, dance, comedy, circus, music, visual and performing arts’.

And Europe is certainly here as I step into what feels like the service entrance to the Birmingham Repertory Theatre (REP); a diverse mixture of people, speaking at least four different languages that I can detect, mingle in a raw, industrial backstage area of the REP. This space (the theatre’s ‘Construction Workshop’) acts as the hub of the festival. It has the Karma Bar with its own currency (The Karma), a stage for live music, a shabby-chic seating area of furniture all jumbled together, various banana-themed sculpture (Elizabeth Hudson’s Free Movement) and works by other artists to spot around the venue. The feel is edgy yet arty, middle class yet urban.

Soon we are asked to take our seats and are ushered around corridors which pass by dressing rooms and conference suites to the performance space. The crowd is full and the stage is bare, save for a telephone and a chair. Isla Aguilar and Miguel Oyarzun, the festival’s directors (interviewed here by Damien Russell) take the stage for brief introduction and then the show can begin.

The SenseMaker by Woman’s Move of Switzerland is the first piece – the story of one woman (played by Elsa Couvreur) waiting for human interaction from an automated phone message and her increasing frustrations, bringing to my mind the increasing role technology plays in our lives and the way in which bureaucracy is perceived. The dancing, mixed with elements of mime and sign language, builds with increasing frenzy and keeps the audience and myself hooked.

The spoken word/singing is no less impressive, combining a bewildering array of languages and sources such as Jethro Tull, Rammstein, Nicki Minaj, yodelling, and Eurovision, all with the constant of Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’ bursting through exuberantly at the crescendo. It is an excellent performance, a funny and triumphant start to the evening that leaves me hopeful of a great night.

A quick change of set (during which the audience is asked to leave the theatre) takes us into the next act, Portraits and Short Stories by Panama Pictures, hailing from The Netherlands. The stage has expanded greatly and now features platforms, ramps, a pole, a trampoline, and a rope, but no props. An old man sits alone.

This modern dance piece aims to ‘explore the relationships binding families and different generations together’. Five more men enter, aged 20 to 60, and all the players begin to interact with each other and the set. A visually busy performance combines elements of parkour, circus skills, pole dancing, ballet, trampoline, acrobatics, and rope work. It bristles with sensuality and physicality. The diverse and changing nature of relationships between people is captured in the movement of the players – now tense and posturing; now gentle and loving. The intensity builds as the routine becomes more daring and more frenetic. Portraits and Short Stories sees the best reaction of the night, with more than one audience member on their feet. And very well deserved. After two strong opening acts I have high expectations for the second half of the show.

After an interval for a meal served on the REP’s main stage, the third act of the night – Marco D’Agostin from Italy, performs Everything is OK. Again the theatre has changed; the enlarged space remains but the platforms and trampolines have been cleared away to leave a stark, white space.

An explosive and fast-paced monologue, touching on rap, song, speeches, and movie quotes, bombards the audience with a plethora of hard-to-follow references in a number of different languages. As promised in the programme, D’Agostin is out to ‘challenge our ability to compute endless information’. He then bursts into his equally wide-ranging dance routine which covers a myriad of styles. The peaks and troughs of energy are matched with the subtly-changing lighting and the austerely beautiful music. Everything is OK, although similar to The SenseMaker as a combination of dancing and lyrical content, is not as captivating and lacks the humour. I find it difficult to engage with the long dance routine, though I admit dance is not a subject I am very familiar with; the audience response, whilst still good, is also more muted.

All change again for the final act of the evening. The Casa Da Esquina Company from Portugal presents Ricardo Correia in My Country Is What The Sea Doesn’t Want, and a more crowded stage, featuring filing cabinets, a desk, and a suitcase.

Correia is the main focus of the piece, relating his own story of immigration and those of other people he has interviewed. Sara Jobard stands at a desk, providing occasional visual content through a small video camera, maps and an array of props set out on the table before her.

The show is funny and engaging – mixing various media such as photography, videography, physical theatre, and audience participation – but it fails to stick to a coherant narrative and the characters aren’t clearly delineated. The video link seems to suffer from technical problems too. The message of My Country Is What The Sea Doesn’t Want is clear and noble but disparately presented. I am, however, left with a an emourmous amount of sympathy for Correia and those portrayed in his work.

The night continues back in the hub, where The Brave Sons of Elijah Perry have just taken to the stage to provide ‘a Mississippi boat-load of energy’. But alas, with my last train departing, I have run out of time to watch them just as I have run out of space in which to review them.

At BE FESTIVAL tonight, the first half of the show was the stronger of the two. At times it all felt a little chaotic (I’m still not sure why we had to leave the theatre between each act, nor why I had to show my ticket each time I reentered) but perhaps that reflects the backstage-feel the event strives for. BE FESTIVAL promises an eclectic mix and it certainly delivers, and although not everything is quite to my taste such a wide-ranging bill is bound to have something to please almost everyone. The space at the REP is certainly well used by both the festival and the performers and all of the acts managed to convey to me a sense of the purpose of their work with minimal use of props.

There is a clear message of hope and celebration of the diversity of Europe coming from BE FESTIVAL and I leave feeling enthused by most of what I have seen. The night overall manages in its ethos to reflect Europe and its vagaries as a whole; some parts are strong and some parts are weaker, but it is diverse, exciting, funny, tragic, exuberant and, most of all, worth hanging on to. We can’t avoid Europe these days, and nor should we.

For more on BE Festival, including a full event programme and online ticket sales, visit www.befestival.org

For more from the Birmingham REP, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk