IETM

The International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts (IETM) arrives in Glasgow for its bi-annual plenary meeting from 4-7 November. Apart from the plethora of delegate-only talks and workshops, there are over seventy performances from thirty Scottish companies, making this the most comprehensive collection of Caledonian performance to grace the West Coast since the 1990 City of Culture celebration.

Taking in all of the major venues across the city, the IETM has space for both the established artists – Adrian Howells, master of the intimate performer recreates his audience with his cross-dressing alter-ego Adrienne, and Scottish Dance Theatre bring their five star Fringe hits to Easterhouse – and the new generation – Kieran ‘Hitch’ Hurley and Tony Mills give up an anti-globalisation monologue and bboy meditation on TV’s influence respectively.

The performance programme reflects the vibrancy and diversity of Scottish theatre. Visible Fictions’ Curse of the Demeter, a genuine all-ages re-imagining of Dracula, is now recreated as a site-specific, immersive horror at the Tall Ship on the Clyde; Plan B give Scottish dance a contemporary make-over; Dogstar’s award-winning Tailor of Inverness takes a personal look at the history of Polish-Scottish identity.

Between Scottish Dance Theatre, Janis Claxton, Curious Seed and Anna Kryzystek, the range of contemporary dance is covered. With Janice Parker's Private Dancer, a genuine Fringe hit is being recreated in a former carpet factory. Even local legend Tam Dean Burn is getting involved, directing the apparently “undirectable” Gilgamesh by Glasgow’s great poet Edwin Morgan.
The IETM is both a serious session for theatre professionals, and a showcase for the future of the art. From its mash-up of styles and skills, it suggests that there is a space for an annual festival of Scottish performance companies.