Leeds Beckett brews up a performance at the Tetley

The Brewing Performance symposium has been organised by the University’s School of Film, Music & Performing Arts and the Centre for Culture and the Arts and it will take place at The Tetley on Wednesday 24 June.

With the backdrop of the impressive 1930s former headquarters of The Tetley Brewery, the symposium will include keynote addresses from Roberta Mock, Professor of Performance Studies at the Plymouth University and Gary Winters of performance artist duo, Lone Twin.

Oliver Bray, Principal Lecturer in Performing Arts and organiser of the symposium, said: “Through panel and roundtable discussions, we will be asking: What is the relationship between brewing and performance? Can we think of 'brewing' as a way of making, seeing, and writing about contemporary theatre, performance, and live art? And is brewing a useful metaphor for thinking through the connections between performance practice and the site in which the work is made or seen?

“We might think of brewing as the site where the organic is controlled but also free to grow and infuse. As a practice, brewing constitutes both work and play, practised by amateurs and professionals within a commercial or domestic context. A cup of tea, trouble, a storm, and mischief - all brew.”

The symposium will run from 9am – 5pm, concluding with a drinks reception and a showing of new work from Leeds-based dance artist Hannah Buckley and an installation by Sussex bioartist, Stephen Fortune.

Oliver added: “The symposium has been created to mark the closing of a series of live performances that we have organised at The Tetley over the last few months, by performance makers from Leeds Beckett and their guests. We aimed to explore what happens when a range of different performance practices are left to brew, that is, to boil, effervesce and bubble together, within the same site.”

All images copyright The Tetley.