Aberdeen Performing Arts’ International Season is set to return this summer, transforming the Granite City into the perfect stage for a global celebration of the performing arts.
Featuring a ground-breaking series of performances from international acts encompassing circus, acrobatics, comedy, theatre, dance and family events, audiences will be invited to enjoy shows from cutting edge international artists in a showcase of excellence on a world stage.
Artists from Australia, Denmark and Guinea will perform at His Majesty’s Theatre and the Lemon Tree in July and August while visiting the UK, in a display of unique acts never before seen in Aberdeen.
Aberdeen Performing Arts chief executive, Sharon Burgess, said: ”Introducing the International Season in 2024 was a milestone moment for Aberdeen Performing Arts.
“We were treated to a thrilling programme of shows from truly incredible performers who had never before made Aberdeen a stopping point while visiting the UK.
“After a wonderful reaction and warm welcome from audiences last year, we are coming back bigger and better this year, broadening our horizons and enjoying performances that inspire, entertain and spark curiosity in equal measure.”
“What better way to understand and embrace the world we are so connected to than through the lens of performance.
“We are so excited to once again see the Granite City sparkle under the lights of a global stage.”
The 2024 International Season marked a significant milestone in the cultural calendar in the North-east of Scotland and brought companies never seen before in the city to His Majesty’s Theatre and Lemon Tree. Supporting sustainable touring, artists and companies coming to the UK to perform maximised their visit by adding dates in the North-east to make the most of their stay.
After wowing crowds at His Majesty’s Theatre in 2024 with Humans 2.0, trailblazing Australian circus company Circa return to the city theatre from Wednesday, July 23 to Saturday, July 26 with Wolf. Billed as a gasp-inducing acrobatic thrill ride, the cast of ten extraordinary Circa artists grasp, tear, climb, leap and balance with fierce abandon.
For Director Yaron Lifschitz, the wolf is a symbol of our untameable selves: liberating, anarchic and savage. The wolves evolve from disruptive forces of chaos into a ferocious pack whose intense choreographies overflow with raw energy and astounding physicality. Wolf is circus with fangs. Join the pack!
Afrique Cirque by Kalabante bring their unique showcase to HMT from Wednesday, August 27 to Saturday, August 30. A show symbolising the strength, agility and joy of life found in African youth, this handful of daring acrobats, accompanied by their musicians, perform to the pulsating rhythm of the djembes of Guinea with their authentic and original choreography and acrobatics.
With the melodious sound of the Kora, Yamoussa Bangoura transports us to a place where the diversity of traditional African arts are illuminated, and combined with the virtuosity of a modern North American Circus performance.
Fresh from a sellout season at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, fun family circus show Children are Stinky comes to the Lemon tree on Sunday, July 27. Are children stinky? Circus Trick Tease sets out to answer this question once and for all. This award-winning children’s comedy features high-calibre circus, a rocking soundtrack and genuine belly laughs.
Children are Stinky challenges children to step on stage and prove themselves worthy, smart, coordinated, and imaginative against these ridiculous circus performers, resulting in wonderful interaction and an audience of proud kids and parents.
Circus Trick Tease debuted in 2008 at the Melbourne Fringe winning the ACAPT and Peoples Choice Awards. With success in shows for grown-ups and children, Circus Trick Tease prides itself on high-calibre acrobatics which is overflowing with satire, wit, and comedy.
Children Are Stinky features Sam Aldham and Josie Wardrope and is produced and directed by Malia Walsh.
At the Lemon Tree, Women in Socks and Sandals is on from Monday, July 28 – Wednesday, July 30.
In this powerful performance filled with quirky stunts and mental courage, this trio of female performers from Danish company Don Gnu aims to explore what happens when women step into a world created by men. What is it like for women to be expected to act like men? And is it possible for them to find their own expression in world of raw physicality, ego battles, and cheesy dad humor? Will the plank fit or is the air coming out of the balloon?
Women in Socks and Sandals is a physical theatre and dance celebration for everyone who wishes to celebrate the right to be oneself – genuine, unfiltered, and powerful in its imperfection – all night long!
Australian musical comedian Darby James’s cabaret musical story Little Squirt comes to the Lemon Tree from Friday, August 29 to Saturday, August 30.
Little Squirt is the uproarious multi-award-winning musical comedy cabaret about the process of sperm donation, with all original songs, following the journey of musical comedian, Darby James after clicking on an IVF clinic Facebook advert. On this unforgettable voyage Darby navigates a sea of existential mayhem, while considering the absurdities of procreation and pondering pathways to queer parenthood. In the midst of this hilarious and heartfelt adventure through genetic questionnaires, medical screening and psychological evaluations, Darby finds himself as a seaman stranded in moral purgatory, faced with the unanswerable question: should we be having children?
On Sunday, August 31, NIUSIA will comes to the Lemon Tree.
Niusia was a Holocaust survivor. Her granddaughter, Beth, only remembers an angry, dying woman. She’s ready to learn her stories, but what she discovers is all the questions she didn’t know existed, and wasn’t allowed to ask. Through NIUSIA, Beth weaves together memories, handed-down stories, and interviews to examine the precarity of identity, and the haphazard cultural legacy second, third, and fourth generation immigrants are handed. She asks: "What does remembrance look like when all I remember is the space where questions should go?”
This small-scale work offers a broad appeal, with resonances for Jewish community, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation immigrants who have a strong or weak connection to their cultural backgrounds, women, history buffs, and lovers of high calibre theatre and storytelling. It is a story about the unexpected journeys we sometimes must undertake in order to know our own stories and family history.
Tickets for all of these shows are on sale to Friends of Aberdeen Performing Arts on Friday, April 25 and on general sale on Saturday, April 26, available from www.aberdeenperformingarts.com) 641122 or visit the box office at His Majesty’s Theatre or the Music Hall.
More acts are set to be announced soon. For further information on the International Season is available here: https://www.aberdeenperformingarts.com/international-season/