Offbeat Festival, Oxford's celebration of new voices from theatre, dance, spoken word and sound art, is back! And Daily Info sat down with Etain O'Carroll to dive into what to expect from this year's festival.
Daily Info: What's Offbeat all about?
Etain O'Carroll: Offbeat is a jam-packed, three-day festival of theatre, dance, spoken word, sound art and creative workshops. It runs across Old Fire Station, Oxford Playhouse and the New Theatre and has lots of options for families, free outdoor performances and a whole host of free creative activities to get involved in on Gloucester Green. It’s the kind of festival where you can see something new and exciting, a bit quirky or daring, and unlike anything you would see at other festivals in Oxford. This year, Offbeat takes place from Thursday, June 15th to Saturday, June 17th.
DI: What can audiences expect from this year's festival?
EOC: I’m so excited about this year’s line up! It’s a really diverse and interesting programme with a mix of local, early-career and more experienced performers. We have a couple of innovative modern adaptations of classics - new feminist reimagining of Milton’s Paradise Lost and a brilliant adaptation of Pericles (one version of which is especially designed for autistic individuals) - some incredible dance acts, a family-friendly climate change musical, a show for babies and toddlers that explores the wonderful worlds inside a cardboard box, a tender, queer short play, Shallow Resting Place, and a few acts that have a focus on the experience of living in Oxford, including local legend spoken word artist RAWZ. And on top of that, there will be a chance to make sun prints, postcards, zines and experimental music on Gloucester Green.
DI: What are some of the highlights from this year's line-up? What are you most looking forward to?
EOC: That’s a really hard one, there’s so much I’m looking forward to. I’m really curious about Electric Daisy, a collaboration with Oxford Contemporary Music, which is a multi-sensory performance that invites you to taste a natural infusion that makes your mouth vibrate in sync with the surrounding soundscape. There’ll be a free theatre, movement and acrobatics act Look Mum No Hands! on Broad Street, a quirky exploration of desire and sex work in A Caravan Named Desire, and one of our supported artists, Dawn Productions, will be showing This House Believes for the first time. It’s a story about how far we’re prepared to go to fit in and is a musical tale of a young man from Tottenham who comes to university in Oxford but finds himself embroiled in scandal and betrayal. It’s a packed programme but the venues are really close together and we’ve tried to schedule it so you can see more than one show in a single night.
DI: How do you feel the arts scene has recovered since the disruption caused by the pandemic?
EOC: It's been such a joy to see audiences return after the pandemic. People are really enjoying the return to comedy and music, and we're hoping that Offbeat will be a chance for everyone to dip their toes back into the water of theatre again, and take a risk on something a bit different. We have a three-day programme this year to get things rolling again but we’re already preparing for a relaunch next year and a festival that’s even bigger and better.
DI: Can you sum up the festival in three words?
Quirky, exciting and, above all, fun!
Offbeat Festival is on Thursday 15th to Saturday 17th June. The full line-up can be find here.