Photos by Alessandra Davison

Virtual Collaborators Festival

The Virtual Collaborators Festival ran from August 14-September 13 2020. Inspired by the cancellation of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, producers Danusia Samal and Olivia Munk matched over 120 writers, directors and performers into 33 artist teams. Along with Assistant Producers Ameena Hamid, Adam Line and Naomi Chapman, Olivia and Danusia supported these artists to create new film, audio and theatre performances. Work was shared on the Virtual Collaborators YouTube channel between August 14-31, and audiences enjoyed live theatre, music and film performances at St. John’s Church in Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, London on September 12-13 2020.

Photos by Alessandra Davison

'It's a Herculean effort': UK theatre festivals adapt for summer of Covid — The Guardian, August 11, 2020

“…That mix is mirrored in the Virtual Collaborators festival, which runs for two weeks online and culminates in a weekend of shows in the grounds of St John’s Church in Leytonstone, east London. The outdoor festival is funded by Waltham Forest council as part of an initiative to bring culture back to the borough. It is the latest phase of a project that Danusia Samal launched in the early days of lockdown to enable creatives to collaborate remotely on a series of films. The festival is co-produced by theatre company Part of the Main whose artistic director Olivia Munk had planned to direct an immersive clubbing experience, Populist, at Brighton fringe and has also had to postpone her Edinburgh show Bloody Mary: Live! (it’s also a podcast).

“The first couple of weeks of lockdown was about picking up the pieces of things that had been cancelled and asking … what now?” says Munk. The Virtual Collaborators festival was designed as a replacement for Edinburgh fringe, which offers a vital showcase to emerging artists. Munk was “floored by the generosity” of others in the industry who have offered advice and resources including free rehearsal space to those taking part in the festival. They are lifting up the next generation of artists, she says.

Planning live events during a pandemic means everything feels provisional. As a producer, you’re usually one step behind where you want to be in your schedule, explains Munk. “But this is the first time I’ve felt it’s OK to be behind because the world is collectively behind what is happening.” The festival aims to give artists and audiences confidence that people can still connect and create work during the crisis. Contingency plans are in place should lockdown restrictions return in London. “Mostly what we have to count on, regardless of government guidelines,” says Munk, “is our spirit and our vision.”

How does theatre in lockdown measure up to theatre IRL? — Emily Jupp, September 27, 2020

“A couple of weeks ago I went to see the Virtual Collaborators Festival, a hybrid digital and live festival created during lockdown but then performed in real life in a churchyard in Leyton. There were over 100 different theatrical projects created. The founder, Danusia Samal, paired up writers with actors, so everyone who wanted to keep creating was able to do so and it attracted the likes of Naomi Ackie, Clare Perkins , Bayo Gbadamosi and Sarah Kosar.

First of all, just being at a live theatre festival, in open-air with people and laughter and strangers felt utterly thrilling. You could have shown me Punch and Judy and I’d be delighted. But, better than that, there was touching beauty in the form of Sway, developed as a radio play but performed here with delicate puppets by Angelina Chudi, telling an environmental and feminist parable about mermaids.

Another, with a feminist motif was Brick, created by Jessica Bickel-Barlow and Olivia Munk from Part of the Main. It explores the stifling confinement of those early lockdown weeks through the lens of a 14th century woman who voluntarily puts herself in solitary confinement to contemplate God. Her good friend is imprisoned next door and they debate her choices. First performed online with two faces talking to each other through an imagined crack in the wall, the staging didn’t change too much in real life – it worked just as well in both formats. Maybe, with our Government’s constantly changing Covid rules, this is something we’ll see more of.

There was something special about the collegiate nature of it all that I haven’t seen since going to drama club aged 16. It was as though the virus had blown away any presumption of status and plonked everyone in the industry in the same egalitarian boat – and everyone realised the only way to survive was to paddle together.

Now that theatres are reopening, I hope that feeling isn’t forgotten; it makes for very exciting work.”

A Younger Theatre Review — September 15, 2020

“It only goes to say that Virtual Collaborators Festival is a wonderful collection of performing arts. It brings all of us together by working with theatres and freelancers to create opportunities and help artists develop in these unusual times. It feels like a celebration of the art that has come from being secluded and living in a time of uncertainty.”