THAT's The Way To Do It: THAT Festival 2013

Now in its second year, THAT Festival is bringing the cream of Scottish theatre, performance, music and literature to Stirling's Macrobert arts centre. We ask curator Alice McGrath to tell us about the highlights of the programme

Preview by Illya Kuryakin | 04 Oct 2013

Aiming to provide a cultural tasting menu covering everything from theatre to dance, literature, music and even urban sports like parkour, this year's THAT Festival programme is all about attracting a younger audience, according to curator Alice McGrath.

“Within the university we have students studying creative writing, film, and lots of societies relating to sport, drama and dance, so we have programmed this eclectic mix to try and appeal to all of these different interests,” she explains. “There is also a participation programme, with workshops, and opportunities to perform, in a huge range of styles.”

Featuring this year are high-profile names from the Scottish arts community, including Edinburgh-based cross-platform literary cabaret Neu! Reekie, who bring Anticon-signed hip-hop group Young Fathers to the festival, alongside rising indie stars Teencanteen, hosted by poet Michael Pedersen and Rebel Inc. founder Kevin Williamson. Their event will also feature animation from Will Anderson, the director of the BAFTA-winning short The Making Of Longbird.

Another big name from the Scottish arts scene who are taking part this year are Buzzcut, who have devised a special series of bespoke performances under the banner A La Buzzcut. Five performance artists will be in attendance, ready to perform for individual audience groups: “The audience will come to the cafe and have a starter, a main course and a dessert, and each aspect of their meal will be a performance,” McGrath explains.

Other events include a parkour and beatboxing workshop from Bright Night International, under the title of Heartbeats/925, and returning shows from the Macrobert's recent successful runs at the Edinburgh Fringe, including Joe Douglas's one-man show Educating Ronnie, winner of a Fringe First Award. Dance is represented by ponydance's Anybody Waitin'?, which McGrath describes as “dance comedy.” There will be a rehearsed reading of a forthcoming Macrobert production, Prom, which McGrath says is “all about beauty and ugliness.”

Looking at end-of-term proms, this rehearsed reading will provide valuable audience feedback for director Gareth Nichols and writer Ollie Emmanuel. “It's really important for artists to see their work up on its feet in front of an audience,” says McGrath. On the literature front, there will be an appearance by Booker-nominated writer Adam Foulds, talking about his novel The Quickening Maze. The closing party is hosted by the No-Fi Disco, with an “anything goes” music policy. With a series of free events in and around Stirling University, and in the town centre, McGrath hopes to attract a diverse audience, both from the large student community in the town, and from beyond. These will be pop-up performances that McGrath hopes people "will stumble upon, and their interest will be piqued."

McGrath is overjoyed to see THAT Festival return for its sophomore outing. “This is the second year of THAT Festival, and we had train-loads of people coming up from Edinburgh and Glasgow last year,” says McGrath. “People came partly in support of the companies taking part in the festival, but also because it was a good programme.”

This year is no different, and she believes that the winds of change are blowing in the right direction in the Scottish arts community. “I think we have turned a real corner... with Creative Scotland, people have gotten their heads around how it functions as an organisation, and how artists can function within that system. There is a lot more work being created, and Macrobert have changed what we do, so that we are producing a lot more work. We have produced the work of independent artists – and there was a real gap in that provision. But I also think audiences are starting to come back – and that's very very exciting. For a couple of years, it felt like it was a real struggle for people to find the time to go out to the theatre, or to afford to pay for tickets and enjoy live art. It might be early days, but it feels like that is starting to change."

THAT Festival runs from 9-12 Oct at the Macrobert in Stirling. For details, times and tickets, check their website http://www.macrobert.org