Northampton theatre launches online showcase festival to support local performers

A popular Northampton theatre, which remains closed due to the pandemic, has launched a week-long, virtual festival to support local artists.

Royal & Derngate regularly works with local performers who create new work, which will be showcased at the festival, called Gen-Fest.

Running from November 2 to November 8, the festival will offer nine live-streamed scratch performances, as well as 23 workshops and masterclasses for people across the region to enjoy.

The venue will also live stream its 2015 co-production of Spymonkey and Told by an Idiot’s Every Last Trick for free to all participants.

Royal & Derngate creative learning associate, Erica Martin, said: “Northamptonshire is a region full of diverse and incredible artists making interesting work, with a great enthusiasm for sharing their wide range of knowledge and skills.

“I’m thrilled we are able to offer this platform to showcase their talents and offer a broad programme of workshops both for artists in our region and those further afield.

“I hope this will be the first of many online festivals dedicated to those whose careers are clearly viable.”

Artistic director, James Dacre, added: “While we can’t yet open our auditoriums for their performances, it has been incredibly rewarding to see artists across Northamptonshire continue to collaborate and share their work with one another through our Generate programme online.

“We’re thrilled that this process will culminate next month in this online festival of work, complemented by a wide-ranging programme of masterclasses and workshops delivered by our Resident Ensemble companies and Creative Learning team working alongside many of our regular associates.”

The featured artists sharing their scratch performances are Joshua Baldwin, Michaela Blackburn, Helen Clifford, Tristan Jackson-Pate, Amy Jones, Henry C. Krempels, Megan Lucas, Beth Markey, Amina Moss, Andy Routledge, Georgia Tillery Randak, Joe Roberts and Bobby-Lee Scott.

To find out how to access the festival and for more information, visit the Derngate’s website.

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