Presented by Bloomsbury Festival as part of the New Wave programme, a platform for emerging talent.

Tickets: £12 (£10)

Based on a true story, this new piece of gig theatre by Frankie Regalia is a distinctly female story of motherhood, survival and intergenerational cycles of abuse.

Chickie is a woman divided. She is torn between her desire for freedom and her responsibilities as a mother. She wants her husband’s undivided love, but must grapple with him pulling the family into the illegal drug trade of the hippie movement.

Set during the turbulent 60s and 70s, this one-woman show combines intimate storytelling, dark humour and live music to tell a truly incredible story.

“★★★★” The Reviews Hub
“a splendid integration of music and story” London Pub Theatres

Presented by Bloomsbury Festival as part of the New Wave programme, a platform for emerging talent.

Tickets: £12 (£10)

Presented by Bloomsbury Festival as part of the New Wave programme, a platform for emerging talent.

Tickets: £12 (£10)

A fairytale animation projected onto the façade of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), highlighting the important research being undertaken on the cell biology of infection within the University. By Samantha Moore in collaboration with the Mostowy Lab at LSHTM.

FREE – Just Turn Up

A highly physical piece of theatre that presents a multi-layered journey into the biological and emotional life of five female identifying performers. They serve as mirrors for each other, used to face the pure essence of themselves in relation to the world they inhabit.

This performance is loosely inspired by the work of Sarah Kane: her last play ‘4:48 Psychosis’ is the starting point for a courageous and extreme exploration that will push the physical boundaries of these five performers, questioning their individualities and their role in today’s society. We in turn establish a primordial language that unites this international cast.

Created and directed by Lecoq & RADA graduate Tommaso Giacomin through a collaborative process with the cast, 4:48 DIGESTION presents an extreme and absurd world where the boundaries between reality and the performers’ imagination are broken down. This process reveals an unflinchingly honest world where their connections are based solely on one true certainty: the blood that pumps through their veins.

You keep playin’ where you shouldn’t be playin’
And you keep thinkin’ that you’ll never get burnt (ha)
I just found me a brand-new box of matches, yeah
And what he knows you ain’t had time to learn.

Tickets: £12 (£10)

Based on a true story, this new piece of gig theatre by Frankie Regalia is a distinctly female story of motherhood, survival and intergenerational cycles of abuse.

Chickie is a woman divided. She is torn between her desire for freedom and her responsibilities as a mother. She wants her husband’s undivided love, but must grapple with him pulling the family into the illegal drug trade of the hippie movement.

Set during the turbulent 60s and 70s, this one-woman show combines intimate storytelling, dark humour and live music to tell a truly incredible story.

“★★★★” The Reviews Hub
“a splendid integration of music and story” London Pub Theatres

Presented by Bloomsbury Festival as part of the New Wave programme, a platform for emerging talent.

Tickets: £12 (£10)

Artist Gwendolyn Kassenaar will create a huge painting in a beautiful live improvised performance together with contemporary dancer Petra Haller.

Breath as metaphor for the unshackling of societal and cultural suffocation will be the narrative of this painting. It will depict the universally human story of personal liberation, being true to yourself and daring to live it regardless of expectations and judgements of others. From trodden-down figure to full spiritual awakening.

This performance will be a bold and innovative portrayal of finding spirituality and finding oneself. Watch the dance while seeing the artwork unfold in front of your eyes in an unusual, energetic and fast creation.

Tickets: £12 (£10)

This event has a limited number of free bursary places available, aimed at families or individuals who otherwise may not be able to attend events in the festival. Please email admin@bloomsburyfestival.org.uk to apply.

Join storyteller Laura Sampson, accompanying sound artist Sam Enthoven and special guests for a selection of grown-up folk and fairytales on the theme of mortality. Age 16+

“Powerful storytelling and atmospheric soundscape” Bloomsbury Festival audience for Laura and Sam’s 2020 show The New Mirror.

“Audience members find themselves chilled, entertained and disturbed all in the space of one intriguing evening” Buxton Fringe Spoken Word Reviews 2019 for Laura and Sam’s show there that year, Impostors.

Tickets: £12 (£10)

A one-day festival celebrating South Asian culture through film, music, food and dance, 75 years after the Partition of the Subcontinent.

11am – 1pm Tabla workhop with Sanju Sahai

2pm – 4pm Rising Silence, by Leesa Gazi, a journey of relationships between women surrounded by war and violence.

This will be followed by a Q&A with film soundtrack composers Olly Weeks and Sohini Alam

17.00 – 18.15 Magpie Robin’s Songbook, album launch and performance by Sohini Alam, Sahana Bajpaie, Samantak Sinha and band

18.45-19.30 Dance Performance by Anusha Subramanyam and Beeja Dance Company

19.45 – 20.15 Taking Flight, a performance by Jason Singh, themed on The Partition and The Conference of the Birds

All day:

Project Dastaan, a bespoke 360-degree digital experience and peace-building initiative, at the Wolfson Gallery

South Asian food stalls

Supported by the Global Music Academy.

Tickets: FREE – but pre-booking for some events is essential

Presented by Bloomsbury Festival as part of the New Wave programme, a platform for emerging talent.

Tickets: £12 (£10)

The story of Promised Land begins with a barren couple—she is a computer engineer, and he is a musician. Unable to bear a child of flesh and blood, they choose to conceive a piece of artificial intelligence named Rose. At the wake of an apocalypse, when all human life has been destroyed, all that remains is Rose sifting through the memories of her parents and the human life that was. Her lone voice is a requiem to the things we have destroyed as a human race, and a hopeful challenge to everyone about our legacy to those who come after us. Through the figure of Rose, we reflect on the crisis of lovelessness in our contemporary capitalist world, and the contradictory ways in which we attempt to live and love within hierarchical structures that inevitably subjugate other people and nature.

Tickets: £12 (£10)

Based on a true story, this new piece of gig theatre by Frankie Regalia is a distinctly female story of motherhood, survival and intergenerational cycles of abuse.

Chickie is a woman divided. She is torn between her desire for freedom and her responsibilities as a mother. She wants her husband’s undivided love, but must grapple with him pulling the family into the illegal drug trade of the hippie movement.

Set during the turbulent 60s and 70s, this one-woman show combines intimate storytelling, dark humour and live music to tell a truly incredible story.

“★★★★” The Reviews Hub
“a splendid integration of music and story” London Pub Theatres

Presented by Bloomsbury Festival as part of the New Wave programme, a platform for emerging talent.

Tickets: £12 (£10)

Nicholas Murray, author of Real Bloomsbury and Bloomsbury and the Poets brings together a group of writers and actors in a programme combining readings and live music, based on the words and stories of the writers and artists of the Bloomsbury Group. All saw themselves as trying to breathe more freely within the restricted conventions of their time, frequently clashing with more conservative ideas and championing personal liberation.

Tickets: FREE – but pre-booking is essential

Presented by Bloomsbury Festival as part of the New Wave programme, a platform for emerging talent.

Tickets: £12 (£10)

A genre-bending, multi-sensory and creatively accessible exploration into the normalisation of sexual assault in relationships. Past Life creatively intertwines access into its heart, using creative captioning, audio descriptive language and soundscapes to evoke a new and dynamic way of making theatre. We follow Kiera (and Betty the Brain) as they navigate through their new life, full of art classes, boxing rings, tears, fights and coming to terms with trauma.

Tickets: £12 (£10)

Based on a true story, this new piece of gig theatre by Frankie Regalia is a distinctly female story of motherhood, survival and intergenerational cycles of abuse.

Chickie is a woman divided. She is torn between her desire for freedom and her responsibilities as a mother. She wants her husband’s undivided love, but must grapple with him pulling the family into the illegal drug trade of the hippie movement.

Set during the turbulent 60s and 70s, this one-woman show combines intimate storytelling, dark humour and live music to tell a truly incredible story.

“★★★★” The Reviews Hub
“a splendid integration of music and story” London Pub Theatres

Presented by Bloomsbury Festival as part of the New Wave programme, a platform for emerging talent.

Tickets: £12 (£10)

Pianist Zhu Sun presents a performance of Chopin’s third sonata in collaboration with contemporary dancers from The Place that features a new choreography by Noé Engelbeen. The project forms part of Zhu’s doctoral research into the relationship between metaphor, dance, and music.

Tickets: £8 (£6)

A one-woman show by India Harrison Peppe about intervention; of cancel-culture and what it means to market yourself as a feminist. Exploring what it means to have ‘principled sex’ and asks what lengths we will go to project an ideal image of ourselves, even at the expense of our own truth.

It’s the middle of the night, and social-media influencer Eliza decides which posts to queue for her Instagram tomorrow. But, when she comes across a comment from a follower asking why she has a bruise on her neck, Eliza’s world is thrown into flux. As the hours creep closer to the morning, Eliza must make a huge decision, whether to sustain a lie or re-brand.

Presented by Bloomsbury Festival as part of the New Wave programme, a platform for emerging talent.

Tickets: £8 (£6)

A highly physical piece of theatre that presents a multi-layered journey into the biological and emotional life of five female identifying performers. They serve as mirrors for each other, used to face the pure essence of themselves in relation to the world they inhabit.

This performance is loosely inspired by the work of Sarah Kane: her last play ‘4:48 Psychosis’ is the starting point for a courageous and extreme exploration that will push the physical boundaries of these five performers, questioning their individualities and their role in today’s society. We in turn establish a primordial language that unites this international cast.

Created and directed by Lecoq & RADA graduate Tommaso Giacomin through a collaborative process with the cast, 4:48 DIGESTION presents an extreme and absurd world where the boundaries between reality and the performers’ imagination are broken down. This process reveals an unflinchingly honest world where their connections are based solely on one true certainty: the blood that pumps through their veins.

Created & directed by TOMMASO GIACOMIN with:

Anita Pomario

Araminta Wraith

Claudia Gambino

Grace church

Miriam Elwell-Sutton

You keep playin’ where you shouldn’t be playin’
And you keep thinkin’ that you’ll never get burnt (ha)
I just found me a brand-new box of matches, yeah
And what he knows you ain’t had time to learn.

Tickets: £12 (£10)

Performance alongside Emma Lucia Reyes’ immersive installation that will explore the inner depths of The Crypt Gallery.

Dancer’s twisting turning bodies light up the space bringing the installation to life. Guiding the viewer through 7 different types of breath, the dancers will interact with the space, video projections and with the audience.

Accompanied by live music using rhythm to evoke heartbeats and sound effects to take the viewer on a journey of the senses through the underbelly of the crypt.

Original soundtrack by Thomas Broda.

Tickets: £15 (£10)

With a top hat from a junk shop and mail-order wand, pioneering storyteller and writer Sally Pomme Clayton explores the secret world of the magician.

In this intimate, enchanting performance she mixes fact with fiction, fragments of myth with antique jokes, dazzling fairytales with snippets of science, forgotten folklore with mysterious images on tarot cards. With a song on her mandolin and a spotted handkerchief she casts a shimmer of stories, shifting from humour to horror, romance to rumour searching for real magic. She combines bewitching spoken word with strange musical sounds, an old suitcases and a magical puzzle that each member of the audience can take home!

The performance asks why apprentices have always been depicted as female and magicians male? Then turns magic on its head with the story of the most powerful female magician of all, Elena the Wise. In this slight-of-hand world objects talk, girls become doves, the magician goes mad and you can enter another world! Join Pomme as she opens her suitcase, finds smoke and mirrors, and sets off on a fairytale quest to discover what is real, what’s illusion, who is the apprentice and who’s the teacher?

Tickets: £10 (£8)

A one-woman show by India Harrison Peppe about intervention; of cancel-culture and what it means to market yourself as a feminist. Exploring what it means to have ‘principled sex’ and asks what lengths we will go to project an ideal image of ourselves, even at the expense of our own truth.

It’s the middle of the night, and social-media influencer Eliza decides which posts to queue for her Instagram tomorrow. But, when she comes across a comment from a follower asking why she has a bruise on her neck, Eliza’s world is thrown into flux. As the hours creep closer to the morning, Eliza must make a huge decision, whether to sustain a lie or re-brand.

Presented by Bloomsbury Festival as part of the New Wave programme, a platform for emerging talent.

Tickets: £8 (£6)

A highly physical piece of theatre that presents a multi-layered journey into the biological and emotional life of five female identifying performers. They serve as mirrors for each other, used to face the pure essence of themselves in relation to the world they inhabit.

This performance is loosely inspired by the work of Sarah Kane: her last play ‘4:48 Psychosis’ is the starting point for a courageous and extreme exploration that will push the physical boundaries of these five performers, questioning their individualities and their role in today’s society. We in turn establish a primordial language that unites this international cast.

Created and directed by Lecoq & RADA graduate Tommaso Giacomin through a collaborative process with the cast, 4:48 DIGESTION presents an extreme and absurd world where the boundaries between reality and the performers’ imagination are broken down. This process reveals an unflinchingly honest world where their connections are based solely on one true certainty: the blood that pumps through their veins.

Created & directed by TOMMASO GIACOMIN with:

Anita Pomario

Araminta Wraith

Claudia Gambino

Grace church

Miriam Elwell-Sutton

You keep playin’ where you shouldn’t be playin’
And you keep thinkin’ that you’ll never get burnt (ha)
I just found me a brand-new box of matches, yeah
And what he knows you ain’t had time to learn.

Tickets: £12 (£10)

This new audio play was selected for development as part of the Bloomsbury Festival 2021 New Wave Theatre Writing programme. This live preview will be followed by and audio broadcast on Bloomsbury Radio at 7pm.

Umbrella explores the lived experience of Gran, who is experiencing dementia, and the people around her.

“A person who time-shifted may seem to be experiencing a different reality to you. … The person may feel like they are living in the past, because they’re using older memories to fill in the gaps to make sense of the present.” Time-Shifting and Dementia | Alzheimer’s Society

Presented by Bloomsbury Festival as part of the New Wave programme, a platform for emerging talent.

Tickets: FREE – but pre-booking is advised
(Suggested charity donation of £5 at performance)

An exploration of human migration through the lens of birds and the migratory structure of the birds’ life cycle. You are invited to bear witness to transformative moments of the animal into human and the challenges of adapting to place, habits and identity. What situations are revealed? Who are these figures caught in transitory moments? What do we learn about the human condition? Responding to, and shedding new light on, pre-existing texts drawn from authors with a historical connection with the Bloomsbury area.

This promenade open-air encounter builds to a ritualistic migratory journey, where you will take flight to a nearby indoor space to be surrounded by choral polyphony, filling the space with physical action and vocal harmony.

The piece references the human need to travel and migrate, whether out of choice or necessity. Taking to the air or sea to breathe and re-define ones identity with our originating culture, existing in every breath, resonating and informing new environments and places in which we settle (no matter how momentarily). We also reference the act of relaxation for personal wellbeing, as birdwatchers do. Taking time to be still, breathe and observe something outside yourself.

Tickets: £10

Performance alongside Emma Lucia Reyes’ immersive installation that will explore the inner depths of The Crypt Gallery.

Dancer’s twisting turning bodies light up the space bringing the installation to life. Guiding the viewer through 7 different types of breath, the dancers will interact with the space, video projections and with the audience.

Accompanied by live music using rhythm to evoke heartbeats and sound effects to take the viewer on a journey of the senses through the underbelly of the crypt.

Original soundtrack by Thomas Broda.

Tickets: £15 (£10)

Daytimers, the collective at the heart of the re-emerging Asian Underground, present an evening spotlighting and celebrating South Asian poetry and spoken word.

Tickets: £10

A one-woman show by India Harrison Peppe about intervention; of cancel-culture and what it means to market yourself as a feminist. Exploring what it means to have ‘principled sex’ and asks what lengths we will go to project an ideal image of ourselves, even at the expense of our own truth.

It’s the middle of the night, and social-media influencer Eliza decides which posts to queue for her Instagram tomorrow. But, when she comes across a comment from a follower asking why she has a bruise on her neck, Eliza’s world is thrown into flux. As the hours creep closer to the morning, Eliza must make a huge decision, whether to sustain a lie or re-brand.

Presented by Bloomsbury Festival as part of the New Wave programme, a platform for emerging talent.

Tickets: £8 (£6)

A selection of Suffrage Plays written when women had to fight to speak their minds about the inequality of society, and linking across time to the women of today, who are still continuing the fight. These pieces tell us, in their own words, the comedy, the opinions and the fervent hopes alongside the campaign and combat for equality.

Tickets: £5

“So far, we have managed to cut our plastic waste by over 2% thanks to the introduction of bamboo cutlery and compostable plates; I think that’s something we can all be really proud of.”

Following a sold-out performance at The White Bear Theatre, Finlay Stroud (Selling Like Hot Takes, Edinburgh Festival 2019) and Hugh Tappin (Is This It?, The White Bear Theatre 2021) present a new comedy about the corporate world and the climate crisis. Set against the backdrop of impending global catastrophe, Brighter, Bolder, Better finds us in a meeting of the committee of the same name – the corporate world’s last line of defence against environmental disaster. Join Nicholas, Jess, Ash & Rupert as they try to solve the world’s problems, one catchy slogan at a time.

Cast:
Nicholas – Hugh Tappin
Ash – Bethany Denham
Jess – Laura Pujos
Rupert – Fred Weinand

Directed by Finlay Stroud

Tickets: £8 (£6)

An unforgettable big-screen experience, this visually striking film explores the consequences of unfettered industrialisation in Delhi, capturing not only a city in crisis but magnifying our collective climate realities.

In a sprawling mega city where the dangers of climate change are present not future, acclaimed filmmaker Rahul Jain shows a world on the brink. Told through striking images and eye-opening accounts from everyday citizens, Invisible Demons delivers a visceral and immersive journey through the stories of just a few of Delhi’s 30 million inhabitants fighting to survive.

Invisible Demons offers a deeply experiential and new perspective on its subject: the clear and present climate reality.

Tickets: £9 (£7)

Tickets on sale soon via Bertha DocHouse – please check back

An exploration of human migration through the lens of birds and the migratory structure of the birds’ life cycle. You are invited to bear witness to transformative moments of the animal into human and the challenges of adapting to place, habits and identity. What situations are revealed? Who are these figures caught in transitory moments? What do we learn about the human condition? Responding to, and shedding new light on, pre-existing texts drawn from authors with a historical connection with the Bloomsbury area.

This promenade open-air encounter builds to a ritualistic migratory journey, where you will take flight to a nearby indoor space to be surrounded by choral polyphony, filling the space with physical action and vocal harmony.

The piece references the human need to travel and migrate, whether out of choice or necessity. Taking to the air or sea to breathe and re-define ones identity with our originating culture, existing in every breath, resonating and informing new environments and places in which we settle (no matter how momentarily). We also reference the act of relaxation for personal wellbeing, as birdwatchers do. Taking time to be still, breathe and observe something outside yourself.

Tickets: £10

A curated screening of essay films exploring the theme of ‘breathe’ made by young filmmakers working in Bloomsbury, in collaboration with students from the MA Film Programming and Curating at Birkbeck, University of London.

Tickets: FREE – but pre-booking is essential

An exploration of human migration through the lens of birds and the migratory structure of the birds’ life cycle. You are invited to bear witness to transformative moments of the animal into human and the challenges of adapting to place, habits and identity. What situations are revealed? Who are these figures caught in transitory moments? What do we learn about the human condition? Responding to, and shedding new light on, pre-existing texts drawn from authors with a historical connection with the Bloomsbury area.

This promenade open-air encounter builds to a ritualistic migratory journey, where you will take flight to a nearby indoor space to be surrounded by choral polyphony, filling the space with physical action and vocal harmony.

The piece references the human need to travel and migrate, whether out of choice or necessity. Taking to the air or sea to breathe and re-define ones identity with our originating culture, existing in every breath, resonating and informing new environments and places in which we settle (no matter how momentarily). We also reference the act of relaxation for personal wellbeing, as birdwatchers do. Taking time to be still, breathe and observe something outside yourself.

Tickets: £10

Death of an Orange is a new bi-lingual play based on Ekjon Komolalebu (To Be An Orange). The play is written by the award-winning Bengali author Shahaduz Zaman in collaboration with Mukul and Ghetto Tigers,tells the story of the life and work of a modern Bengali poet, Jibanananda Das(b.1899 d.1954). He is one of the most revered Bengali poets, born and brough up in Bangladesh but little known outside of the country.

This play was written in celebration of the anniversary of 50 years of Bangladesh Independence and is translated from Bengali by Amy Parsons.

Tickets: £8 (£6)

Performance alongside Emma Lucia Reyes’ immersive installation that will explore the inner depths of The Crypt Gallery.

Dancer’s twisting turning bodies light up the space bringing the installation to life. Guiding the viewer through 7 different types of breath, the dancers will interact with the space, video projections and with the audience.

Accompanied by live music using rhythm to evoke heartbeats and sound effects to take the viewer on a journey of the senses through the underbelly of the crypt.

Original soundtrack by Thomas Broda.

Tickets: £15 (£10)

A one-woman show by India Harrison Peppe about intervention; of cancel-culture and what it means to market yourself as a feminist. Exploring what it means to have ‘principled sex’ and asks what lengths we will go to project an ideal image of ourselves, even at the expense of our own truth.

It’s the middle of the night, and social-media influencer Eliza decides which posts to queue for her Instagram tomorrow. But, when she comes across a comment from a follower asking why she has a bruise on her neck, Eliza’s world is thrown into flux. As the hours creep closer to the morning, Eliza must make a huge decision, whether to sustain a lie or re-brand.

Presented by Bloomsbury Festival as part of the New Wave programme, a platform for emerging talent.

Tickets: £8 (£6)

A selection of Suffrage Plays written when women had to fight to speak their minds about the inequality of society, and linking across time to the women of today, who are still continuing the fight. These pieces tell us, in their own words, the comedy, the opinions and the fervent hopes alongside the campaign and combat for equality.

Tickets: £5

“So far, we have managed to cut our plastic waste by over 2% thanks to the introduction of bamboo cutlery and compostable plates; I think that’s something we can all be really proud of.”

Following a sold-out performance at The White Bear Theatre, Finlay Stroud (Selling Like Hot Takes, Edinburgh Festival 2019) and Hugh Tappin (Is This It?, The White Bear Theatre 2021) present a new comedy about the corporate world and the climate crisis. Set against the backdrop of impending global catastrophe, Brighter, Bolder, Better finds us in a meeting of the committee of the same name – the corporate world’s last line of defence against environmental disaster. Join Nicholas, Jess, Ash & Rupert as they try to solve the world’s problems, one catchy slogan at a time.

Cast:
Nicholas – Hugh Tappin
Ash – Bethany Denham
Jess – Laura Pujos
Rupert – Fred Weinand

Directed by Finlay Stroud

Tickets: £8 (£6)

An exciting dance theatre performance revealing different aspects of Eleanor Marx. Who was she? Fighter for the eight hour working day. Champion of the hungry, the sick and the exploited. Translator. Writer. Internationalist. Public speaker. Activist. Daughter. Sister. Friend. Lover. Why is she important? How does she connect to our lives today?

A 30 minute, stimulating dance theatre performance specially created for the Bloomsbury Festival to celebrate her life and the trail she blazed. Directed by Julia Pascal. Suitable for all ages.

Performances at 2pm, 3pm & 4pm (approx 30mins)

FREE – Just Turn Up

Join us for the amazing story of how three healthcare scientists foil the Gunpowder Plot, with the help of 9 year old Princess Elizabeth, a malfunctioning MALDI-TOF machine and the weird and wonderful mysteries of Microbiology, Haematology, Biochemistry, Immunology, hand-washing, and time travel!

In London, 2022, scientists Lily, Rosa, and Frank are shocked to see a secret message – ‘HELPE’ – on a machine in their hospital laboratory and a strange map of Bloomsbury…

The message is from 1605. Princess Elizabeth has discovered plot to blow up her father the King, and Parliament. Guy Fawkes is in the Tower, and the race is on to find the Gunpowder Gang. Elizabeth, Lily, Rosa, Frank, Sir Jasper and the Tower Guard have one night to solve the dangerous riddle.

And they need your help.

Free activity packs. Please wear fancy dress – royalty, scientists, plotters – if you like.

By playwright Nicola Baldwin and Dr Elaine Cloutman-Green, Lead Healthcare Scientist at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Supported by HSEWG, GOSH School, The Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath) and the Society for Applied Microbiology (SfAM).

Tickets: FREE – But pre-booking is essential

‘So, this is my first ever blog post. Bear with me as I don’t really know what I’m doing. I’m what is known as a Clinical Scientist, and I work in Infection Control.’

Thus began the first blog by Dr Elaine Cloutman-Green, Lead Healthcare Scientist at Great Ormond Street Hospital, in December 2015. Five years later her occasional postings – ‘Girlymicro’ (‘scientist changing the world one swab at a time’) – became a weekly ritual.

Each blog written in a snatched hour during the pandemic, Girlymicro became a mental space populated with personal reflection, favourite microbes, special guests, puppet shows, and meditation on illness, family, and loss, but always with Elaine’s trademark humanity, humour, and curiosity about life.

This stage adaptation by Nicola Baldwin transforms Girlymicro into a welcoming Healthcare Science Afternoon Tea. Join Elaine, actors, and Healthcare Scientists to hear about the HCS job, about women in science, exploring the limits of what overstretched teams and individuals can achieve, saving lives through science, insight, community… and cake.

The Girlymicro Performance and Afternoon Tea is part of The Nosocomial Project’s Bloomsbury Festival takeover of Dr William’s Library.

This performance includes references to sickness and death and is suitable for ages 12+.

Tickets: FREE – but pre-booking is essential

In September 1928, Alexander Fleming returned to his laboratory from holiday. Before leaving, he had inoculated staphylococci on culture plates and left them on his bench. On return, one was contaminated with a fungus and the colonies of staphylococci surrounding it had been destroyed: by the antibiotic effect of penicillin.

Join us for a theatrical conversation between Healthcare Scientists, AMR researchers, actors and patients on the looming health crisis of antimicrobial resistance which Fleming predicted in his Nobel Prize acceptance. A journey of drama, personal stories and cutting-edge science. With: Nidhi Kapil, Dr Steven Kemp, Tara Kearney, Nicola Sanderson, Helen Sheals, Rebecca Simon, Sam Watkin, Jonny Wright, Özge Yetiş, Peter Clements.

Texts: Mrs X by Nicola Baldwin; Nobel Prize speech 1945, Dr Alexander Fleming; Lucky Jen by Nicola Sanderson; Me And Her by Rebecca Simon; Klebsiella by Peter Clements; Precision AMR 3-minute Theses: Nidhi Kapil, Halan Mohamed, Dr Steven Kemp, Sam Watkin, Özge Yetiş, Dr Elaine Cloutman-Green, Anthony de Souza, Dr Jennifer Rohn. Created in collaboration with UCL Precision AMR. With thanks to UCL, Great Ormond Street Hospital, SfAM, HIS, RCPath.

Please note this performance contains themes of illness and infection. Suitable for ages 14+.

Tickets: FREE – but pre-booking is essential

An institution of the London spoken word scene, Jawdance comes to Bloomsbury Festival bringing you acclaimed feature acts alongside up-and-coming artists in poetry and music.

The notorious Jawdance open mic is for poets, part-time poets, partial-to-an-open-mic poets, or even I’ve-written-what-I-think-is-a-poem-but-I’m-not-a-poet poets… this is your chance to own the stage alongside some of the biggest names in spoken word.

Our usual host Yomi Sode is back with Den The Tech on the Decks.

Tickets: FREE – but pre-booking is advised

“We are running across the streets, hiding from the air released from a balm-sized canister. Who knows such a huge cloud could be trapped in such a teeny tiny cylinder!”

People’s voices were controlled through the manipulation of the air. Over the past three years, cities including New York, Paris, Bangkok, Delhi and Hong Kong, all experienced social movements in which tear gas was used to disperse civilians. People suffer from physical trauma as well as mental health issues such as anxiety, fear and depression.

Shall we let the wound heal with care? We are coming together even though the air is dispersing us. We are voicing out louder as a chorus even though the air is stopping us from breathing.

Paradoxical Gasp – an experimental event, devised by Hidden Keileon, a collective of six multidisciplinary Hong Kong artists and curators, addresses socio-political urgency, initiates intercultural conversation and deals with the traumatic legacy of tear gas exposure in social movements all around the world.

Times:
Thurs 17 Nov 7pm (preview)
Fri 18 Nov 7pm
Sat 19 Nov  2pm & 7pm
Sun 21 Nov 2pm

Tickets: £15 (£12)