The Festival of Ian Smith: A Celebration of Death

After Ian Smith, the Artistic Director and co-founder of Mischief La-Bas Theatre Company, took his own life in 2014 after a long battle with depression, Angie Dight, his widow and Mischief La-Bas co-founder has sought to change attitudes to death.

After deciding that Ian’s funeral was to be “a great celebration” she realised that attitude to death needed to change. “Obviously, his death was a really awful thing,” explains Angie, “but by celebrating him so positively, it makes it so much easier for everybody.” After the funeral, Angie looked for ways to remember him the way she wanted to, and decided to let Ian’s work tell his story.

“I really wanted to show his work – because someone died, their work lives on, their legacy, everything they did.” The result was the very first Festival of Ian Smith, a three-day festival that premiered at the CCA last year to mark the one year anniversary of Ian’s death.

This year’s month-long festival opens with a Day of the Dead Party on Friday 28 October, and features performances and installations from artists like Victoria Melody, Andrew Tibbles and Pauline Goldsmith, as well as music, theatre and collaborative pieces, such as The Death Cafe, and Good Grief Part II, a reworking of Ian’s original installation, where visitors can get involved and leave tributes for loved ones. Angie knows that the subject of death isn’t a comfortable one for everyone, but she also knows that when it comes to death, knowledge really is power.

“I don’t think it’s morbid and it shouldn’t be morbid and it doesn’t need to be morbid, and I think the more we make death part of our everyday lives, the less frightened of it we will be.”