Top 5 shows to see at VAULT Festival 2023
It’s back! Normal service has resumed for the best arts festival in the UK. We asked, you answered - here are our top 5 shows that we recommend you see this year at VAULT Festival 2023.
GUSH
Shortlisted for the Tony Craze award with Soho Theatre, Gush is Abby Vicky-Russell’s astonishing new character comedy. Prima Facie meets Victoria Wod when , Neil, a working-class plumber from Sheffield is called out on short notice to fix a leak in The Vaults studio so a contemporary dance troupe can continue performing their very important piece exploring the relationship between pomegranates and vulvas.
Tue 7 Mar - Sun 12 Mar 2023
Snail
Life’s moving too fast, and Sylvie’s doing all she can to keep up. Her perfect routine of running, teaching, nights out, volunteering and bi-weekly coffees with her Mum are keeping her beautifully busy, and despite the rising tide of stress, exhaustion and overwhelm, Sylvie agrees to take on even more work.
As she finally buckles under the pressure, Sylvie finds herself spiralling into unusual behaviour, climaxing in a surreal mating ritual. With a trail of mess behind her and in a haze of disassociation, she’s at risk of losing everything she’s worked so hard to maintain.
As her inner world collides with the outside noise, Sylvie is faced with an unavoidable question – can she find the courage to switch off and slow down? Can she lean into her inner strength, break the mould, and empower herself to ‘be more snail’?
Tue 28th Feb - Sun 5th Mar
How We begin
Helen and Diana probably should’ve worked this out sooner – In theory, they’ve both got their shit together. They’ve graduated uni. Landed busy jobs. Got nice flats. Finding love is the next step, right? There’s just one small problem, Diana’s got a boyfriend. A new play about love, queerness and trying to make enough room in your calendar to sleep with your best friend.
Tue 14th Feb - Sun 19th Feb
Right Of Way
‘I don’t remember where I am when I decide to walk. Maybe the idea creeps up on me over time – born somewhere within me the first time I saw the sea.
Like osmosis, the thought it soaks into my skin and lies in wait until I cry it out as a single teardrop. Glistening, shimmering, and whole – it falls out of my subconscious and into my knowledge.
RIGHT OF WAY, involving walking the South West Coast Path, is a semi-autobiographical piece that explores the intimate connection we have with powerful bodies of water, our heritage, and the women in our lives. Rooted in a place of joy, breath, and deep listening, it is an embodied reflection on chronic illness, accessibility, Young Carers, and radical joy.
SURFACING
NHS therapist Luc is fine. Honest. She’s definitely not overwhelmed by meeting Owen, a new client, definitely not freaked out by what she’s started seeing, definitely doesn’t think her reality has been punctured and something else is leaking in. Luc goes for a swim and feels a hand dragging her down to the bottom of the lake…
When she surfaces, her reality is different. She’s haunted by tormented mice, shape-shifting people, and secrets she thought she’d buried.
In this breath-taking new two-hander, motion sensor tech combines with motion-responsive video design and composition to create a contemporary Through the Looking Glass world.
