In a press statement, LIFT Artistic Director Mark Ball commented, "Does art help us belong? I have met pioneering artists and performers from around the world who connect to the astonishing range of international communities that make up London, and, asking that very question, have made a Festival that investigates how this amazing mix of people adds up to the London I love. The cultural influences and radical imaginations of our festival artists result in enthralling and joyful work that will be seen in spaces and venues that take us into the guts of the city – so make your own playlist and join us at LIFT 2016."
Work is being done from companies and performers from Argentina, Belgium, Greece, Poland, Canada, Japan, Australia, the U.K., the U.S.A., Lebanon and Syria.
Premieres include a voyage through the American song book with New York performance artist Taylor Mac (at Hackney Empire on June 1), a gothic circus from Australia's Circa and British electronic musician Lapalux in a show called Depart (beginning performances June 16 prior to an official opening June 17 at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, for a run through June 26) and the U.K. debut of Polish director Krzysztof Warlikowski in a multimedia production of Phaedra(s), a revolutionary interpretation of the Greek masterpiece by Sarah Kane, Wajdi Mouawad and J.M. Coetzee starring Isabelle Huppert (beginning performances at the Barbican Theatre June 9, prior to an official opening June 10 for a run through June 18).
Writer/director Neil Bartlett will offer the London premiere of Stella, beginning performances June 1 for a run through June 18 at Hoxton Hall, inspired by the true story of the strange life and lonely death of Mr. Ernest Boulton – one half of the infamous Victorian cross-dressing duo Fanny and Stella, set on the day of his death.
Argentinian artist Lola Arias brings together both Argentinian and British Falklands War veterans to share their experiences with us and each other of that 1982 conflict in Minefeld, running June 2-11 at the Royal Court Theatre. In Open for Everything, running June 16-28 also at the Royal Court, musicians, performers and dancers explode in a rollercoaster ride through the lives and experiences of Europe's Roma people, led by choreographer and theatre maker Constanza Macras.
Tokyo based artist and pop-idol Toco Nikaido and 25 performers appear in Miss Revolutionary Idol Beserker< running June 22 to July 2 at the Barbican's Pit Theatre.
Also programmed is the U.K's first transgender choir in an original song cycle Adam's Apple that explores and celebrates the voice and gender identity (at Hoxton Hall, June 3-4), Belgium's NTGent / les ballets C de la B in the London premiere of En Avant, Marche!, which features a full brass band (at Sadler's Wells, June 16-17), and On The Move, a series of new works co-commissioned by LIFT responding to the world’s greatest migration crisis, which will inhabit unexpected spaces at the Royal Court Theatre, running June 9-11.
Other events will include a screening of the Wooster Group's production of Hamlet (at the British Library on June 3), followed by a conversation with Scott Shepherd, Kate Valk and Wooster Group founding member Elizabeth LeCompte.
For full booking information and further details of the complete programme, visit to liftfestival.com
