After months of theatres being closed and as the date Britain will leave the EU draws nearer, London’s landmark festival of European theatre will return for an eighth year this November to celebrate the work of European companies based in London and across the continent. Four shows (10 performances in total) will take place live on stage at The Cockpit, six will be performed live online, and four will take the form of watch parties with audiences invited to watch a pre-recorded show together in Zoom and take part in a live post-show discussion with the artists. All shows, regardless of format, will invite audiences to a shared experience in real time, something that has been missed by so many in recent months.

Artists from Germany, Denmark, France, Colombia, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, the USA, and Hungary (in an ongoing partnership with the Hungarian Cultural Centre, London) have been programmed, alongside European artists living in the UK. Performances include shows in Spanish, French, Italian, Russian and Portuguese, as well as English and wordless offerings, with some shows offering a variety of languages to choose from. Topics addressed range from questions around European identity, the need for human connection and human rights issues to inflammatory bowel disease and Magda Goebbels’ shoes with performance styles including puppetry, mime and cabaret.

Owned and run by United Colleges, The Cockpit first opened its doors to a live post-lockdown audience in July staging socially distanced opera in collaboration with Tête à Tête Opera and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Following this successful pilot, and further performances in house, online, and even over the phone, The Cockpit is now fully open.

The Voila team is joined this year by Austrian theatre makers Andrija Repec and Petra Freimund. Both alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, they came to London and fell in love with independent devised and physical theatre, before returning to Austria to create a sister festival, Voila! Europe Vienna, set to begin in 2021. This year’s audiences will meet Andrija and Petra thanks to the online programme for Voila! Europe 2020.

Ahead of the festival’s opening, Voila! Europe will be holding a launch event on Zoom offering journalists the opportunity to find out more about the festival and meet the artists involved. Full listings for the festival are included below.

Festival Directors Sharlit Deyzac and Amy Clare Tasker said: “Wow, 2020 sure had some bugs - so it’s time for an upgrade! In these extraordinary times, artists have proven their resilience and ingenuity with reimagined productions and new projects in direct response to our changing world. The Cockpit has reopened its auditorium safely, as well as adapting and investing in new ways of presenting theatre online. Voila has found an unexpected opportunity in crisis, to update our operating system with cross-cultural encounters online and on stage! Bring on Voila! Europe 2.0”

Dave Wybrow, Cockpit director, said ‘Since 2012, The Cockpit has supported Voila! Europe to produce a multicultural, multilingual, and multidisciplinary festival that celebrates independent theatre and performance across the continent. Faced with the challenges of 2020, we are determined to continue with Voila in growing partnerships, growing audience, and growing a festival model that reaches beyond the walls of the theatre, beyond London, and beyond the UK”.

Petra Freimund & Andrija Repec, festival directors of VOILA! Europe Vienna, said: "In uncertain times like these, when we do not know yet what the future may hold, we are building bridges and looking for silver linings. That is why we founded ’VOILA! Europe Wien’, an Austrian registered theatre society, to stay connected with the UK despite whatever Brexit may bring. For us, devised and physical theatre open up opportunities to develop storytelling in a visceral way, not necessarily dependent on language."

Máté Vincze, director of the Hungarian Cultural Centre, London said: “Following a successful collaboration in 2019, we look forward to another innovative international theatre project in 2020. Voila’s forward-thinking and dynamic response to the pandemic has given both the HCC and K2 Theater an opportunity to explore the potential of digital performance and continue to offer Hungarian theatre to UK audiences.”

Listings information
9-21 November 2020
The Cockpit, Gateforth St, Marylebone, London NW8 8EH and online at www.voilafestival.co.uk

Live at the Cockpit
Tickets £10-£30 (£20 standard price, concessions £10 or £30 to donate and support the arts).
Bring your bubble and save! Book 2 tickets for £36, 3 tickets for £51, or 4 tickets for £64.

Right Left with Heels 11 & 12 Nov 7.30pm
STIGMAcollective
Lithuania/Poland/UK | Performed in English
Our protagonists are a pair of shoes, custom made for Magda Goebbels, the unofficial First Lady of Nazi Germany. Once the epitome of style, and at the forefront of a powerful regime, now they are passed from owner to owner with no control, through the decades of history. On the 75th anniversary of Armistice Day, these unexpected voices tell their own story. And it's time to pay attention, because it's our version of history they're questioning.

We Missed You 13, 14 & 15 Nov 7.30pm
Julia Masli and Viggo Norten
Estonia/Norway/Russia/UK | Performed in English

Hello you. We Missed You. We dedicate this show to you and to audiences everywhere. Award-winning clowns present a joyous hour of physical comedy. During the pandemic Julia & Viggo went out to public spaces in Lambeth to do playful, magical and socially distanced performances to lift the spirits of local people. Next Stop: The Cockpit, where these filmed moments of connection meet live performance.

N A K E D 17, 18 & 19 Nov 7.30pm
NAKEDpresents & Swan Events
UK | Performed in English
At a time of increasing disconnection, what does it mean to fully embrace each other? What does it take to be honestly, authentically ourselves, championing female strength and male vulnerability? Queer collective NAKEDpresents brings together cabaret, recorded interviews, dance, and music to celebrate the weird, the wonderful, and the beautifully unique. Nominated for the Origins Award at VAULT Festival 2020.

Don’t Leave Me This Way 20 & 21 Nov 7.30pm
Zoo Indigo
Czech Republic/China/Ireland/Germany/Hungary/Ireland/UK | Performed in English with German & Hungarian
Zoo Indigo search for their European identity on the shores of a Brexit-ridden Britain. In a series of competitive citizenship catwalks, Rosie sings Irish folk songs, Ildikó raps to Bach, and Rob attempts to prove his Czech and Chinese heritage with the violin and accordion. Grieving the loss of their identity, home, and the Eurovision Song Contest, the performers take you on a humorous and provocative exploration of nationhood.

Live Online
Tickets £10 (Except Theatre in the Pound - £1)

Sh*t Happens 10,12,18,20 Nov 15-minute slots between 5.30 – 8.30pm; 15 Nov. 1-4pm
Patrycja Dynowska
Poland/UK | Choose English or Polish when booking.
A one-to-one performance about the taboos of pooing, public toilets, and Inflammatory Bowel Disease. A poetic insight into Patrycja's personal experience, this show invites you to get online from your very own bathroom for an informal #ShitChat.

Diary of an Expat: Reloaded 10 & 11 Nov 7.30pm
Paper Smokers
Austria/Italy/UK | Performed in English with some Italian
For ten years, the UK has been Cecilia’s home, even though no one there can pronounce her surname. Armed with her own experience, the testimonials of fellow expats, and her trusted copy of Life in the UK, Cecilia traces her story from Italy to London, from amusing miscommunications to bewildering legal technicalities, and from embracing a new nationality to staying true to her roots. “Reloaded” for Zoom after touring around the UK and Italy, Diary of an Expat asks: how do we decide where we belong?

Telephone 12, 13 & 17 Nov 7.30pm
Coney
UK | Performed in English
“An entrancing combination of storytelling and shared conversation” (The Guardian). Telephone weaves together stories and games about connection in all its forms, inviting you to explore a short and (mostly) true history of telecommunications. Bringing together a playing audience of strangers, this gently interactive performance is different every time.

State vs. Natasha Banina 12 & 13 Nov 7.30pm & 15 Nov 5pm
Cherry Orchard Festival
Russia/USA | Performed in English (12 & 13 Nov) or Russian (15 Nov)
A Russian teenager tells the story of her life in a small-town orphanage, and how her desire to be free led to a crime of passion. From the inside of a “Zoom courtroom,” she makes unique appeals to you, the jury, letting you into her world where she dreams of love, family, and her future. Is Natasha guilty? You decide.

Bingo! 19, 20 & 21 Nov 7.30pm
Karavan Ensemble and Silvia Mercuriali
Italy/Portugal/UK | Performed in English, with Italian, French and Portuguese
How fair and square is our Human Rights Treaty? Join the ridiculously serious callers Yael and Silvia, in a surreal night of Bingo with visual treats and dancing beats. Print your bingo cards, grab a pen, and get comfy on your sofa… but not too comfy. Watch out when the numbers take on hidden meanings and expose the flaws in the rules of the ‘game'.

Theatre in the Pound 16 Nov 7pm
Performed in English with various other languages
The Cockpit’s monthly online scratch night Theatre in the Pound presents a Voila! Europe special in November, with five works in progress by 65% Theatre (France/UK), Labirion Officine Trasversali (Italy), Smart & Texte Hors Contexte (France), Alejo Wao (UK), and Aisling Smith (Ireland). Be the first to see these brand new performances, new translations, new ideas - and give your feedback in an informal Q&A with the artists. Tickets are only £1 to join us live on Zoom.

Watch Parties and Discussions
All tickets £10. Shows are available to stream at other times outside the scheduled Watch Parties


The Escape of Iris Dupont Watch Party 14 Nov 1.30pm & Discussion 2.30pm
Simsalabim Productions
France | Performed with some French, subtitled in English
On May 1st 2020, in a small village in France, Madame Iris Dupont risks everything when she decides to escape confinement and go outside. Created during lockdown with hand-made masks and life-size puppets, this hybrid theatre-film ponders the effects isolation has on the elderly, whilst celebrating the small joys of life.

Farewell Concert (Búcsúkoncert) Watch Party 14 Nov 5pm & Discussion 6pm
k2 Theater (k2 Színház)
Hungary | Performed with no spoken language, with English subtitles for Mozart’s Requiem. Discussion in English.
Venice is flooded, forests are on fire in the Amazon, and a new pandemic is unfolding. Meanwhile, a cramped company sings Mozart’s Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) at an aristocratic dinner party at the end of the world. Everything is in place for a great evening, only the air needed for singing is running out dangerously. But the concert can't stop.

Alice in Wonderland Watch Party 15 Nov 3pm & Discussion 4pm
Asterion Hus
Denmark/UK | Performed with no spoken language; discussion in English
Follow Alice down the rabbit hole to a wondrous land, where anything can happen. Danish dancer and performer Tilde Knudsen gives her version of Lewis Carroll’s beloved story inspired by and interacting with "insubordinate" costumes by British designer Susan Marshall. Watch the transformations before your eyes in this imaginative non-verbal performance.


Trojana: Webcamming Chronicles
Discussions 21 Nov 2.30pm in French / 4pm in English / 5.30pm in Spanish
Defiant Reality, Theatre for Change
Colombia/France | Choose English, Spanish, or French when booking.
Desire. Fantasy. Virtuality. 9 daily emails of exclusive content to guide you through our investigation on both sides of the webcam lens. A peephole provocation to get close up: choose your role, complete the simple tasks & bring your findings to the cybertable when we meet live on the 10th day!

Supported by United Colleges Group & The Cockpit, The Hungarian Cultural Centre London, Voila! Europe: Vienna, and EUNIC (EU National Institutes for Culture). Voila! Europe is part of the European Festivals Association label. Some productions in the 2020 festival are supported by Arts Council England.

LATEST NEWS