Take Me Somewhere: 2025 programme announced

Take Me Somewhere, Glasgow’s biennial festival of radical performance art, returns this autumn, running 15 to 26 October, and it’s just announced the nineteen boundary-pushing works in this year’s programme. “We’re excited to continue presenting work that welcomes audiences to challenge their perception of what performance is, what it can be, and who it is for,” says LJ Findlay-Walsh, Take Me Somewhere’s Artistic Director.

Among the international talent on board this year is Australian dancer and choreographer Dan Daw with EXXY. The title comes from the Aussie slang word for "that’s expensive, mate", and reportedly the show takes audiences on an epic and tender journey back to where Daw began – as a working-class kid with very little. Also look out for The Last Supper by internationally acclaimed Brazilian collective MEXA. Inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s fresco, the show is described as “a performance-banquet” that explores ideas of death, resurrection, and the possibility of creating a final image for a group that is about to end. We’re told to expect a party atmosphere and a powerful sense of solidarity.

More highlights include FRANK, the latest high-intensity work from choreographer and dancer Cherish Menzo; Handle with Care, a show with “no actors, no technicians, just a box and the audience”, presented by experimental Belgian theatre makers Ontroerend Goed; and the interactive piece asses.masses, from Patrick Blenkarn + Milton Lim, which is described as “an epic playable theatre experience exploring automation and revolt through the eyes of a donkey”.

Elsewhere in the programme you’ll find an extended reality piece concerned with “journeys through life and care” (ZU-UK’s Within Touching Distance), a ballet duet about aging and legacy (Come Back Again, featuring 80-year-old dancer Susanne Kirnbauer-Bundy) and a site-specific performance-installation exploring Glasgow’s wrestling scene (the latest in Daniel Kok and Luke George's series Still Lives).

The above is just a taster of what’s on offer at this boundary-pushing festival. “Whether gathering at a communal feast, facing the monstrous within, or standing in the fire of ambition and desire, through these works audiences can explore what it means to want better and more,” says Findlay-Walsh. 

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Take Me Somewhere 2025, various venues across Glasgow, 15-26 Oct, takemesomewhere.co.uk