What do we do? What can we do in this era of Covid-19 restrictions and constant change, in the ebb and flow of emergency and unpredictability and stagnant moments of aimlessness and unknown that now seem a bizarre way of life for us all - not just here in the UK, but everywhere? How do we respond to this? And if a theatre company’s entire purpose is to make and tour theatre productions around the world - what do we do now...?

We need to find a way to continue.

Of course that reaction is not unique to us - we’re all trying to continue as best we can - though it means something different to each one of us. It’s a reaction fraught with detail and complexity bubbling just underneath. And, to be honest, it skips quite happily over the period of chaos, anxiety and WTF-ness we have all experienced over the last six months (a bit more on that below)... Once the initial feeling of powerlessness, of not knowing - of structures holding everything together suddenly falling apart - gradually calmed into a new ‘normal’, things began to shift, possible ways forward opened up. We still can’t truly plan beyond the next few months in the way we used to, but to quote Of/By/For All: ‘Even in a pandemic, we have choices’.

We decided to create a new festival. Something we’ve never done before. A festival that could happen no matter what; a digital festival that has content you can enjoy for free, wherever you are; a festival that embraces the precarious situation we all find ourselves in for the foreseeable future.

We’re calling it WHERE YOU ARE.

Brand new short film by Matthew Gurney

Brand new short film by David Ellington

Not just because it will be happening online and you can access it in many ways wherever you happen to be - but also because what we’re presenting is, approximately, where we are right now, as a company, as artists and freelancers, producers, general managers, interpreters… this is where we are at. And what started as the seed of an idea has now grown into a festival that we’re excited about sharing with you.

In March, our schedules looked completely different: this was not part of THE PLAN. We were booked to tour our latest piece, Extraordinary Wall of Silence, to the Edinburgh Festival, to London, and we were booking a Spring 2021 tour; we were half way through the Spring tour of our family show, Chloe and the Colour Catcher and booked to remount it for Christmas 2020; Translunar Paradise was supposed to tour in South Korea after 2 years of planning; and we were about to start making a new production...all of these plans had to be cancelled. It was heartbreaking - but of course we were by no means unique in this, everyone in the arts knows the pain of seeing the future we thought we knew disappear. And while we don’t know what the future holds, we feel privileged to still be working in the arts at this time.

But March was also the month that HOME got in touch and commissioned us to respond to the lockdown. They offered us some money, and gave us free rein to create whatever we wanted for their HOMEmakers programme. It was a strange and difficult time to be making something - but it was also really energising to be creating and helped keep us just a little more sane… the result was new artistic territory for us, a triptych of short films called A Small Gathering. So we wanted to offer the same opportunity to other artists and creatives, and in collaboration with HOME, we took that idea, and we ran with it.

WHERE YOU ARE is a festival of commissioned work, lectures, Q&As, short films, a podcast and more. We invited an incredible array of artists and academics to present their work and we're delighted to host the outcome of this period of creativity and experimentation under lockdown. Some of it is still being made as we type. It will be a festival we can all participate in, a space bringing us together during this unique moment in time. It’s how we’ve adapted; it’s how we have chosen to respond - thanks to some Emergency Funding from Arts Council England and a whole lot of generosity and heart from everyone involved. And while this space we’re building can be quite discombobulating for all it’s newness, it’s also strangely invigorating, inspiring, and it gives us hope - about what we can all do when this pandemic is over (or at least more under control), about the potential in each one of us, and about how we can collaboratively rebuild - but rebuild something better.

The events we have planned for you will be happening live 29 Oct - 1st Nov 2020, and then will be available to watch, experience and encounter online whenever and wherever you like throughout the festival. We can’t wait to welcome you.

So...Don’t. Miss. It.

Until then...be well, take care, and stay hopeful.

George & Nir
Co-Artistic Directors, Ad Infinitum