16th – 19th July 2009
Henham Park Estate, Southwold, Suffolk
FILM & MUSIC ARENA
~ ‘Age Of Stupid’ plus a Q&A with Franny Armstrong and Ed Miliband ~
~ Noah & The Whale present ‘The First Days Of Spring’ ~
~ Smoke Fairies ~
THE WATERFRONT STAGE
~ Hofesh Shechter ~
~ Swan Lake Excerpt ~
~ Freestyle Hip Hop from Psycho Stylez ~
LITERARY ARENA
~ Jake & Dinos Chapman ~
~ Sketchatron featuring The Penny Dreadfuls and Pappy's Fun Club ~
LITERARY SALON
~ Write To Play with Che Walker ~
COMEDY ARENA
~ Brendon Burns ~ Jamie Kilstein ~
THEATRE ARENA
~ Adriano Adewale ~Teenager of the Year ~
POETRY ARENA
~ The PeteBox ~
CABARET ARENA
~ Lucifire ~ Fat 45 ~The Penny Dreadfuls ~
PANDORA’S PLAYGROUND
~ Sadler’s Wells Dance Club ~
~ Scrabble Sunday ~ Seraph Id ~ Hide N’ Seek ~ Bootworks ~ Disco Shed ~
The pioneering, award-winning Latitude Festival returns to England ’s Sunrise Coast for another spectacular edition. Taking place on 16th – 19th July, near Suffolk ’s stunning sea-side town of Southwold , organisers Festival Republic are promising Latitude will be the perfect British summer destination.
FILM & MUSIC ARENA
Uniting alternative worlds of cinematic wonder, musical splendour and visual brilliance, the Music & Film Arena is an exhilarating and intoxicating centre of creativity.
The Age Of Stupid addresses the issue of climate change, resource wars, consumerism, and the need for massive personal and social change. Director Franny Armstrong's docu-drama is out to change the minds of the masses and make them more eco-conscious. Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated world of 2055, watching 'archive' footage from 2008 and asking: why didn't we stop climate change while we had the chance? Following the varied cast of characters - a guide who has seen the Alp’s glaciers disappear in his lifetime, a builder of wind-farms and an Indian entrepreneur opening a low-cost airline – this creates a powerful, shocking, in some ways quite extraordinary documentary. Franny Armstrong will also open the floor to questions in a Q&A session that follows and will be demanding answers from Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband MP who will be talking after the film is shown. In October of last year Miliband was promoted to the cabinet with the portfolio and responsibility for the newly created government department, the Department Of Energy and Climate Change as its Secretary of State. Ahead of the crucial UN Summit in Copenhagen in December Miliband has announced that the British government would legislate to oblige itself to cut greenhouse emissions by 80% by 2050, rather than the 60% cut in carbon dioxide emissions previously announced. This film is a passionate campaign demanding for more commitment, more awareness and more answers from the MP and his department so join in the debate and help give this film the impact it needs.
London indie-folk band Noah & The Whale will present ‘The First Days Of Spring’, the narrative film created by the band’s singer Charlie Fink to accompany the soundscape of their latest album. Premiering at Latitude 2009, the film and the album may share the same title but are separate entities that support and compliment each other. Drummer Doug Fink says of how to describe the new material ‘Sidestepping drawn-out overanalysis, the pithiest, if crudest, aphorism we have used consistently for the sum of its parts is ‘feature-length music video’. But truly it stands as a wonderful work in its own right." The third album from the four-piece will be out in August.
Female duo Smoke Fairies sing haunting melodies, stripped back to the bare bones where subtly spooky sounds build to a dramatic yet sensuous sound. Jessica Davies and Katherine Blamire met at school and spent time travelling the Southern states of America and have since toured with Brian Ferry. Their debut single 'Living With Ghosts' was released last year.
LITERARY ARENA
Like all good books, the Literary Arena will transport you to the far reaches of your imagination guided by the storytelling talents of the very best authors and special guests scheduled for the weekend. Discussions, Q & As, stories and comic genius are the order of the day for these talks and readings with a difference.
2003 Turner Prize shortlisted conceptual artists Jake & Dinos Chapman will be appearing in the Literary Arena and will be interviewed by editor, correspondent and regular panel member on Newsnight Review, Miranda Sawyer. Bad boys of Brit Art, the brothers work almost exclusively in collaboration with each other and shot to fame as part of the Young British Artists movement promoted by art collector and advertising mogul Charles Saatchi. They received critical acclaim in 1991 for a diorama sculpture entitled 'Disasters of War' created out of remodelled plastic figurines enacting scenes from Goya's 'Disasters of War' etchings and have since exhibited numerous pieces which have since gone in to a retrospective at the Tate Liverpool in 2007. Their sculptures and installations examine, with searing wit and energy, the most pertinent and controversial issues in politics, religion and morality. Join them in the Literary Arena to discover their style and fascination for the grotesque and bizarre.
Write to Play events focus on a prolific playwright, striving to give audiences the opportunity to engage with playwrights. At Latitude, In The Same Boat presents Write to Play with Ché Walker. Listen to Ché in conversation about his life, career and work; hear Ché read an extract from his writing; and join us in discussion with Ché about his themes, styles and methods of writing. Born in Camden Town , Ché Walker trained as an actor at the Webber Douglas Academy before starting to write. His plays frequently celebrate London life in all its richness, vibrancy and cruelty. Lyrical and tender, dark and comic, Ché Walker’s writing is fast making him one of Britain ’s most important contemporary playwrights. His plays have been performed in renowned theatres including Southwark Playhouse, Royal Court , Young Vic/ ETT and Shakespeare’s Globe.
The biggest sketch showcase in the UK comes to Latitude. Sketchatron featuring The Penny Dreadfuls and Pappy's Fun Club is exclusive to this year's festival. Sketchatron presents extended sets from two of the best up-and-coming live sketch troupes in the country. Pappy’s Fun Club are from Radio 4 and BBC2 and Chortle Award Winners and if.com award nominees. Sketchatron favourites The Penny Dreadfuls, straight off the back of two critically acclaimed Radio 4 Victorian comedy series "The Brothers Faversham will also be joining in the fun.
COMEDY ARENA
The Comedy Arena is one of the biggest draws of the weekend; bursting at the seams with people as they sit back and enjoy the stellar stand up performances from the cream of the comedy circuit. A programme of the biggest names and the newest rising talent will ensure continuous laughter throughout the weekend.
Australian comic Brendon Burns' television career began alongside Sacha Baron Cohen and Ricky Gervais as a performer on Channel 4's late-night spontaneous comedy show 'The Eleven O'Clock Show'. His wittily controversial show 'So I Suppose This Is Offensive Now' won the top prize at the if.comedy awards at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and also appeared alongside fellow Comedy Arena stand up Adam Hills in a stage version of Breaker Morant directed by Phil Nichol at the same festival. However it is his solo shows that have shown the basis for his revered reputation with six live show recordings under his belt.
Critically acclaimed, left-wing political comic Jamie Kilstein joins the superb line up in the Comedy Arena. He received a standing ovation when he made his debut with razor sharp show 'There's No God And That's OK' at the Edinburgh Fringe last year. Dissecting the racism with his derisive wit, Jamie conducts a one-man war on American religious extremism, racism, sexism and homophobia despite having a right-wing evangelical Christian sister.
THE WATERFRONT STAGE
Renamed The Waterfront Stage, this year the floating stage will once again showcase contemporary, modern dance from the world’s leading companies and choreographers.
Watch from the grassy banks as Sadler’s Wells bring an excerpt from Swan Lake and freestyle hip hop from Psycho Stylez to Latitude. As the UK’s number one venue for dance, Sadler’s Wells has been absolutely at the centre of this resurgence, presenting a staggering range of shows, many of which have involved exciting cross-artform collaborations and have broadened our perception of what dance can be. ‘The Art of Not Looking Back’ by Hofesh Shechter the first of the triple bill has already been announced, and the further two dance pieces will include a ballet excerpt from Swan Lake and freestyle hip hop from Scotland’s number one breakdance crew.
The duet from Act Two of Swan Lake is one of the most famous moments in classical ballet. This truly iconic piece of dance will be performed by Begoña Cao and James Forbat from English National Ballet. Presented on a floating stage on the lake, this looks set to be a truly magical performance. Begoña trained at Arts Educational School , London and at the Royal Ballet Upper School . After joining English National Ballet in 1997, she was quickly promoted to First Soloist, dancing Principal roles across many of the major works in the ballet repertoire. She recently received the 2009 Spotlight Award for Best Female Classical Artist. James trained at the Royal Ballet School and has danced with English National Ballet since 2004. Last year he was nominated for the Times/South Bank Show Breakthrough Award.
Based in Edinburgh , Psycho Stylez have competed and performed across the world, with a host of UK titles under their belts. This year, the company brought their piece Cirque du Psycho to Sadler’s Wells’ annual festival of hip hop Dance Theatre, Breakin' Convention, and they are continuing to push the boundaries of hip hop dance and create new styles within b-boying.
Got the urge to hit the dancefloor? Sadler’s Wells Dance Club in Pandora’s Playground gives you the chance to learn a range of diverse dance styles with top dance teachers, and get a glimpse of how they dance it for real. Seema Parma will be teaching Bollywood classes on Friday with a fun, energetic class to bring out the Bollywood heroes and princesses in you, mixing of pure Bollywood cheese, some classical Indian steps, and facial expressions,. Then following his performance on Saturday morning, Psycho Stylez dancer Iain Bleakley will be teaching the foundations of b-boying/breakdancing for you to build on and add your own style to. You will work on top rock, footwork and freezes - everything you need to have some fun and start getting busy on the dance floor! Sunday sees Mariana and Romero taking festival goers through Rio-style Samba where, starting with the basic step, you will have the chance to learn how to develop your sense of rhythm, play with the music and have some fun. This is a solo dance, so you can come as you are or with a mate.
CABARET ARENA
If you want to experience something entirely different then seek out Latitude’s quirky den of mischief and mayhem; the Cabaret Arena. Inside you will witness comedy sketch shows, burlesque, freak shows, drag queens, sing-a-longs, illusionists and much, much more to be announced. With Vaudeville fun, sharp, incisive wit, camp entertainment and a good ol’ fashioned knees up, the Cabaret Arena positively encourages you to leave your inhibitions at the door and be game for anything and everything.
Glamorous underground cabaret artist Lucifire brings ‘The Furry Bitches From Hell’ to the Cabaret Arena. Joined by Alternative Miss World winner Fancy Chance, the unrivalled pair of burlesque performers team up to stage a show that includes a grumpy, chainsmoking dormouse and a bubbly, cheerful white rabbit. Watch their interpretation of ‘Bright Eyes’, you won’t have seen anything like it before.
Blistering eleven piece big band bringing back the dance music of the 1940’s & 50’s with their slick quiffs, sharp suits, swingin hips & high heels. Fat 45 play jump jive, swing, rhythm & blues and rock & roll setting the dance floors alight wherever they go, guaranteed to make every party shake, rattle & roll…All you juice hounds, hep cats, night hawks, jitterbug zooters & hop heads get your finest thread and cut some rug to the boogie woogie big beat sound of the Fat 45…
The critically-acclaimed trio, The Penny Dreadfuls, from BBC2 and Radio 4 are famed for their Victorian antics as part of their critical and commercial success with the ‘Aeneas Faversham Trilogy’, they now present brand new modern day comedy. Nominated for the Brighton Fringe Comedy Award for their new work in May of this year, and sell out shows across the UK, they're already making waves, regardless of which era they're in.
POETRY ARENA
Positioned enticingly by the banks of the lake at the entrance to the main festival arena, Latitude’s perfectly placed Poetry Arena is a wonderful den of distraction. Curious passers-by are pulled inside by barrels of raucous laughter, pensive silences and fascinated faces, all transfixed by the raconteurs on stage.
THePETEBOX is a leading player on the beatboxing scene, making his mark after only a few months of gigging by winning the Radio 1 beatbox championships in 2005. Since then his breathtaking abilities to create, and re-create many styles of music such as hip-hop, drum ’n’ bass, jazz, house, garage and rock, has established him as an explosive live performer, having appeared at club nights and festivals around the UK and abroad over the past three years. THePETEBOX is one of the world’s finest human beatbox artists hailing from Nottingham . Check out this astonishing talent who creates music, mimicking a wide range of instruments and effects using just the mouth and vocal chords.
THEATRE ARENA
With the involvement of the country’s leading theatre companies, Latitude has established itself as one of the best theatre festivals in Europe . An auditorium has been specially designed to perfectly present a full schedule of contemporary, physical, classical, performance and local productions bespoke to the festival.
Created and performed by master percussionist Adriano Adewale, Sound Journey is a solo work which uses music, theatre and dance to explore its core contemporary themes. The piece speaks to and about our current concerns of cultural identity, immigration, migration and climate change. Based on the aesthetics of afro-Brazilian culture, it employs conventional, traditional, organic and experimental instruments, which are redolent of both rootedness and migration (for example the Berimbau, an instrument taken from Africa to Brazil by Angolan slaves) and played with specific techniques. Combining music, theatre and dance in an innovative and unique way, join the master percussionist’s remarkable journey from Africa to South America , desert to rain forest, village to city. A virtuoso, moving and intimate performance appealing directly to the senses!
'Teenager Of The Year' was written by Jamie Huxley and has had short runs amongst other plays at the White Bear and the Rosemary Branch. Marking the crowning of Teenage Of The Year, who is both monosyllabic and poetic, both apathetic and rebellious. The theatre piece is set in front of a live studio audience with regular bulletins from the on-going war between adults and teenagers via DVD (with real footage of Jon Snow who has been recorded delivering the text), dancers, and a manic presenter.
PANDORA’S PLAYGROUND
New to Latitude last year, Pandora’s Playground will again have all manner of side shows, interactive art, dance troupes, theatre and an all night disco shed.
Everyone knows the best board game in the world is Scrabble. Not only can you pit your vocabulary and word-making skills against someone else, you can have a pint, a bite to eat and a bit of a lounge about in the sun while you do it. Perfect. That's why between 1pm and 4pm on Sunday in Pandora's Playground, you'll find Scrabble Sunday. We'll provide lovely boards (from 50s ones to 80s ones, from swivelly ones to inflatable ones), a referee (with official Scrabble dictionary of course) to rule on any arguments, some comfy blankets and maybe even an opponent. Prizes will be awarded to those who come up with extra special words. All you have to do is bring your brain. Be there and be square. Be there AND be square, get it?
Seraph Id is a young performance company, run by creative improviser Aedin Walsh, the company works fluidly with each project, drawing on the particular skills of each performer and needs of each work. The integration of skills and response to the built and natural environment is at the core of Seraph Id. This year at Latitude they will present the premiere of their newest work, an Aerial Dance Theatre interpretation of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Nightingale and The Rose’. Performed outside by the light of the setting sun, in the arms and lap of Luci's tree, this powerful, timeless story of love and sacrifice will draw breath through visceral live performance, spoken text, live music, aerial and dance.
Join creators of social games Hide&Seek for three wonderful games at Latitude. In Checkpoint, designed by Andy Field, you take the part of a smuggler. Your aim - to disassemble a living room and reconstruct it piece-by-piece on the other side of a central no man's land. Unfortunately, the space between the installation and your end-point is patrolled by Border Guards, and they're suspicious, surly and out to stop you in your tracks. Sneak, lie, distract and run! In the Reality Reality Helmet Experience, from Gethan Dick and Myles Quin, you could experience any one of 12 new and astonishing realities. Roll up, roll up and take your chances - a twist of fate decides what new world awaits. Fall in love, become a giant, eat clouds or experience any one of the 12 new realities of the Reality Reality Helmet Experience. In Grandmother's Footsteps, you creep or bolt across a field, trying to reach Grandmother before she spins around and catches you in motion. It might be a familiar game - but this time, Grandmother is, well, she's pretty big. And a puppet.
Bootworks Theatre Collective is an unincorporated and multi - disciplined group of artists committed to making high quality and innovative street art and performance. After a successful show with The Black Box at Latitude last year, they return with a new box and a new show - their most innovative production to date; ‘the Little Box of Horrors’. If you dare, step inside their BlackBox and witness a 5 minute peep-show for an audience of one. The show uses three shuttered windows to frame the performers as they make a film in real-time. Or watch from outside TheBlackBox where you can watch the mechanics of the performance as it unfolds.
Kitsch, cool, and full of character, the Disco Shed was conceived in a moment of garden party madness by club promoters and long time festival goers Peepshow Paddy and Aidan ‘Count’ Skylarkin. Taking inspiration from their actual shed, in which they‘d enjoyed one too many parties for their neighbours liking, they set about converting an ordinary 8 x 6 ft Billy O garden shed into the must-have accessory for any self-respecting festival – the Disco Shed! By day, chill out and enjoy the good-time garden party vibe, with classic garden games, and Jane Fonda workouts. Then dance the night away to top quality DJ sets, with a full light show and live visuals on the shed's giant rooftop screen. The Disco Shed is a unique, adaptable, ready-to-go self-contained performance area, with the personnel on hand to rock your festival. We can also work with you to accommodate artists of your choice.
TICKET INFORMATION
Weekend tickets £150 plus booking fees • Day tickets Fri, Sat, Sun £60 plus booking fee. Weekend tickets prices include car parking and camping • Days include car parking only.
Credit Card line: 0871 231 0821
Online at: www.festivalrepublic.com • www.seetickets.com • www.latitudefestival.co.uk
For a full list of national and regional outlets please visit www.latitudefestival.co.uk
For further Press info contact: 020-7792-9400
Charlie Caplowe: charlie@presscounsel.com
Dani Cotter: dani@presscounsel.com
Anthea Thomas: anthea@presscounsel.com
Dan Griffiths: griff@presscounsel.com
Labels: 2009, Brendon Burns, Hofesh Shechter, Jake and Dinos Chapman, latitude, latitude festival, Smoke Fairies
