Amplify Festival returns at Nottingham Playhouse with feast of theatre

​The packed line-up offers something for everyone; from family-friendly comedy and folklore, to cutting edge work-in-progress and exciting headline shows from established artists.

Amplify Festival gives local artists and audiences the opportunity to come together and celebrate and invest in local talent.

The annual festival, now in its sixth year, features artists from across the wider Midlands region and includes new work, work-in-progress and scratch productions, workshops for artists and networking for theatre-makers. The festival has expanded to run across six days this year and features 16 different artists.

It begins with the Nottingham Playhouse Writers Group showcase, presenting script-in-hand extracts from plays developed over the last nine months in a programme led by Nathan Ellis. These extracts will be directed and performed by local artists, a real showcase of Midlands talent.

Running during half-term, the festival has three shows for children and their families: Curious Investigators (for those aged three to seven), and Robert (1849) and Snare and Feral, which are both suitable for eight-plus.

There is plenty to entertain the grown-ups, from Nottingham Playhouse associate artist Laura Turner’s Body or Soul, where a woman – and the audience – face a moral dilemma; to fascinating double and triple-bills of work-in-progress shows, from tackling disability rights and class within Shakespeare to the perils of modern dating.

Beccy D’Souza, artist development producer, said: “This year’s festival provides a real opportunity for audiences to invest in local artists and their work. We are platforming several work-in-progress performances, working with artists to make the shows accessible to as wide an audience as possible.

"These artists are making new work with limited resources, and in many cases will be performing it for the first time, so are keen to gauge audiences’ responses and receive feedback to inform their next stages of development.

"There’s a huge diversity of experience across the programme, and with most tickets priced under £10 our hope is that will be reflected in our audiences too.”

Adam Penford, artistic director at Nottingham Playhouse, added: “Amplify Festival is going from strength to strength. Giving a platform to local emerging theatremakers to showcase their work to the public and other artists is a vital part of why Nottingham Playhouse exists”.

For more on what’s in store see www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk

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