This month, the University of Liverpool will launch Culture Unconfined, featuring five days of drama, documentary, poetry, film and music to help people engage and stave off isolation.
The online festival will begin on Monday 11th May (just after the bank holiday) with A Museum for Me!, a chance to imagine and create your own perfect museum. Tell your own stories and curate your own exhibition.
This will be followed by internationally renowned Irish composer Gerald Barry’s dispatch from Los Angeles, where he is composing an opera based on Oscar Wilde’s Salome; before former Royal Liverpool Philharmonic violinist, Roisin Walters, delivers a 30 minute concert connecting Irish songs and Bach dance movements from the Partitas.
The first day concludes with an exclusive radio documentary from Red Fox Theatre, around the making of their Dingle-based performance piece, Catch of the Day.
The drama will continue on Tuesday with Spanner in the Works Theatre, and there will be music from Amsterdam and Pele frontman, Ian Prowse. Wednesday will open with a link up to the university’s popular Lunchtime Concerts, before Doubleband Films present Maradona: Kicking the Habit. The day will wrap up with the Makey-Uppers and their Alternative Bedtime Stories: definitely not one for the kids!
On Thursday, Doubleband Films will return with To Be Frank Carson, and University favourites Green Tangerines will perform in the evening.
The final day will open with film The Man Who Shot the Great War; followed by Loris and The Lion’s specially recorded concert of original work, drawing on global folk traditions. Rita Ann Higgins will then turn the eye of her poetry on to Covid-19; before Australian songstress Nuala Honan closes the show.
Each day of the festival will follow a schedule, with specific timings for each event. The online audience will be able to access each performance – and view the entire programme – through the Culture Unconfined website.
There is no need to book tickets or reserve a place for any of the shows, with the exception of Deirdre Ni Chingaile on Tuesday at 1pm; and Ryan Molloy and Martin Dyar’s Absolute Kinship, on Thursday 14th May 14 at 1pm. Both of these performances will be shown live through Zoom, so pre-registration is required.
When: 11th – 15th May 2020
Where: Online via festival website
£: Free
More info: www.liverpool.ac.uk/culture-unconfined