Brett Bailey, the artistic director of Cape Town-based performance company Third World Bunfight, is back in South Africa for a short while and has begun working on his next project, ‘The Raft’, that will deal with the migrant crisis on the Mediterranean Sea.
“As they sit cramped in their vessels these migrants are caught in a moment of terrifying limbo, between the desperate situations that they have fled, and their fragile hopes in the face of an uncertain future,” he says.
Bailey has to squeeze researching and writing into his busy touring schedule. Over the past 2 years, his works have appeared in 22 cities in Europe, Latin America, South Africa and New Zealand; including Moscow, London, Lisbon, Paris and Santiago. This year his MACBETH is heading for South Korea, Brisbane, Hamburg, Buenos Aires and Santiago; and EXHIBIT B will play in Gwangju, South Korea.
Last year he had to cope with the huge controversy that broke out around EXHIBIT B in London and Paris. The protest action resulted in the closure of the work at the Barbican in London. The Paris venues of the show were surrounded by 300 riot police for 2 weeks.
In 2014 he also wrote and delivered the UNESCO World Theatre Day Speech, following in the footsteps of theatre luminaries such as Dame Judi Dench, Dario Fo and John Malkovich. And he sits on the international jury of the World Music Theatre Awards.
This week Third World Bunfight launched a new website packed with articles, interviews, photographs, videos and play texts. “Students and academics around the world study our works,” says Bailey, “I want the website to be a dynamic archive that captures the visual aesthetic of our performances.”
The MACBETH 2015 international touring schedule, so you can tell your friends abroad:
September 10 & 11
Gwangju, South Korea – Opening Festival of the Asian Culture Complex Arts Theatre
September 15, 16, 18, 19
Brisbane Festival
September 24 – 26
Hamburg – Kampnagel Internationale Kulturfabrik
October 4 & 5
Buenos Aires – FIBA
October 9 & 10
Santiago de Chile
All details are available on the new website
