Taking theatre work into vibrant venues and onto the streets across the city and district, the programme ranges from newly commissioned work by leading theatre companies, to new plays by talented local writers, world premieres and ambitious collaborations.
With local people firmly at the heart of the performance programme, Bradford 2025 is ensuring that creativity and participation reach deeply into Bradford’s communities, as well as showcasing the depth of the district’s talent and the richness of its stories.
Image: David Lindsay
September sees the world premiere of A World Without Death (5-7 Sept) by Bradford’s Displace Yourself Theatre roll out across the district. Featuring an international cast of storytellers, performers and aerialists, the production is an electrifying adaptation of the Norwegian folk tale “The Boy Who Tried to Cheat Death”, infused with the vibrant spirit of Día de los Muertos. Working closely with the displaced community in Bradford, A World Without Death includes a Community Chorus made up of aspiring performers who are based in Bradford District as well as people who have refugee status. With sustainability at the core of its creation. this innovative show will take place on a bespoke, upcycled stage made from an old HGV trailer and will be transported using an electric-powered truck. Performances take place at Bradford’s Centenary Square, Odsal Stadium, and Morrisons Girlington across the Bradford District.
Mind the Gap, learning-disability theatre pioneers based in Bradford, present a new show especially for Bradford 2025, directed by Rich Rusk. Co-created with and performed by artists with learning disabilities and/or autism, The Invite (17-20 Sept) is an immersive theatre experience set over an unforgettable night at the pub, where six friends gather to celebrate a birthday. Inspired by real stories and lived experiences, this funny, heartfelt and honest show explores relationships, memories and fears – and what it truly means to be seen.
Also crafted from a rich seam of local talent, raw storytelling, rap and dance, brand new show RIDE! (19-20 Sept) centres the experiences and voices of people of Gypsy and Traveller heritage to tell a powerful story of family and community holding onto their culture and redefining home. RIDE! is a collaboration between Bradford’s Spin Arts and West Yorkshire charity and membership organisation Leeds Gypsy and Traveller Exchange (Leeds GATE), and their members. Written by Romany Gypsy rapper, Big Deli (Will), and composer Jamie Roberts, directed and choreographed by Robby Graham of Southpaw Company, RIDE! features local rappers, a cast of professional dancers, students from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance and community members from the Holme Wood area.
Shipley’s Market Square will host a bespoke large-scale outdoor contemporary circus performance, Bloom (26-27 Sept). Celebrating the spirit of Bradford District, and the history and people of Shipley, the event will feature a cast of hundreds, including local performers, movement artists, community choirs, and the world-class acrobats and aerialists of Upswing, one of the UK’s leading contemporary circus companies.
A new commission by Bradford-based 509 Arts, Life Class will take up residency in the theatre at Loading Bay from 3 – 12 October. A brand-new theatre work written by Al Dix with Mike Kenny and composed by Richard Taylor, Life Class is a joyful and sometimes serious look at the ageing body and the changes that happen to us as we age. A chorus of 35 older local people will accompany six professional actors and musicians as they perform an original score. Together, they sing songs, tell stories and cavort their way through the truth and beauty of getting older.
Image: Bradford2025
The Javaad Alipoor Company present the world premiere of Elmet at Loading Bay from 22 October – 2 November, bringing Fiona Mozley’s extraordinary 2017 Booker Prize shortlisted novel to life on-stage. The production features original music and live performance from Mercury Music Prize nominated folk pioneers, The Unthanks, with movement direction from Ad Infinitum’s Deb Pugh. Cathy and Danny live with their Daddy in the wilds of Yorkshire, on a land “made of myths”. But an almighty reckoning is looming that threatens to smash apart everything that Cathy, Danny and Daddy hold dear. Vivid and visceral, by turn lyrical and mythical, Elmet is an explosive story of family, revenge and the ultimate price of freedom, told in The Javaad Alipoor Company’s audacious and richly theatrical signature style.
Recipients of Bradford 2025’s Artist-Led Project Awards are also set to premiere ambitious new theatre work this autumn. Projects supported by Bradford 2025 include Old Bird Theatre’s Otherhood (23 Sept – 8 Oct, venues across Bradford), a story of radical love and found family, where a grieving widow and a queer millennial discover the power of finding family in unexpected places.
Also supported through Artist-Led Project Awards, Bring it Back is a new immersive show by Natalie Davies. Nadia, a thirty-something washed-up DJ, wants to bring buzzing energy back to Bradford’s dancefloors — and she’s not asking nicely. With performances at the newly opened Bradford Arts Centre from 23 – 25 October, Bring it Back mixes film, live stream video and a DJ live on the decks, for a high-energy theatre experience with heart, humour, and heavy beats.
Jenny Harris, Director of Programme for Bradford 2025, says: “Our jam-packed Autumn theatre programme is a real testament to the vibrancy and creativity that powers the cultural scene in Bradford this year and every year. From unmissable world premieres including The Javaad Alipoor Company’s gutsy reworking of Elmet, Bradford pioneers Mind the Gap continuing to lead the way in learning-disabled performance and inclusion in The Invite, to Displace Yourself Theatre’s A World Without Death taking to Bradford’s streets on the back of a HGV lorry, we’re proud to be collaborating with so many companies and artists to bring bold new stories to Bradford’s stages.
“Local people are always at the heart of the programme and members of our communities will be sharing their talent, energy and stories with us on stage over the next few months. A community chorus of older people raise their voices in song, celebrating the ups and downs of aging in 509 Arts’ Life Class, local residents of BD4 and people of Gypsy and Traveller heritage share their experiences to create Spin Arts’ RIDE!, while Bloom sees a huge community ensemble join Upswing’s professional circus artists, dancers and musicians to create an unforgettable outdoor spectacle in the heart of Shipley.”
Bradford 2025 is helping to make Bradford one of the most welcoming places in the UK for artists, producers and creative entrepreneurs to flourish, through development programmes in collaboration with Bradford Producing Hub, and investment into the local sector with capital grants provided to Bloomin’ Buds, Bradford Playhouse, Displace Yourself Theatre, Ilkley Playhouse, Mind the Gap, and Bradford Theatres amongst others, to increase the offer of cultural infrastructure and access in the district.
Other upcoming event highlights from Bradford 2025’s packed programme for Autumn include: the BBC Proms at St George’s Hall on 7 September, as Angélique Kidjo and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra perform African Symphony; BBC Contains Strong Language festival celebrating poetry, performance and spoken word from 18-21 September; the world’s most exciting visual arts prize, the Turner Prize, coming to Bradford for the first time at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery from 27 September; and a headline performance by the incomparable US singer-songwriter John Grant at St George’s Hall on 7 October.
Tickets are on sale now at bradford2025.co.uk
