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Drama students at the University of Sussex are preparing for the sixth annual Drama Finalist Performance Festival which will take place on campus from 25 to 27 April. The festival includes 10 performances created by BA Drama finalists which are the practical equivalent of a written dissertation.

This will be the first time in three years that the festival has been held in person because of the pandemic.

Dr Jason Price, Head of Drama at the University of Sussex, said: “We are thrilled to be hosting our festival live and in person once again. While we learned a great deal about the adaptability of our theatre making skills for largely digital formats during the pandemic, the liveness and immediacy of an in-person theatrical experience can’t be replicated online. The work of this year’s festival really embraces the possibilities that liveness affords.”

The performances range in topic and form, including a six-hour installation focused on wellbeing and self-care; a clown performance that interrogates the pressures (and failures) of entertainment; and a performance that seeks to externalise the internal experience of the brain through breath. Other work in the festival considers queer autobiography, destruction, natural and unnatural environments, the banality of daily life, and reality TV.

Festival performances will take place in venues across the university campus, including Stanmer Park, Library Square, the Meeting House, as well as the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts and the Silverstone Drama Studio.

Dr Price said: “This work would not be possible without the support from the ACCA team: Beth O’Leary, Izzy Segal, and Laura McDermott. The Drama staff, who have guided these projects, and to our wonderful students who have really invested their time and attention into producing such sophisticated work are also to be applauded.’

To find out more about the Drama Festival and to reserve free tickets, please visit the Attenborough Centre website.

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