This November Le Public Space, Newport’s community owned music and arts centre based within Le Pub, launch Newport’s first Online Theatre Festival RIGHT NOW. The festival runs online from Monday 23 to Saturday 28 November and will include a mixture of conversations and performances by some of Wales’ talented theatre makers and performance artists. The festival is supported by Dirty Protest Theatre Company and The Riverfront Theatre and Arts Centre.

Daily at 4.30pm RIGHT NOW will include an open conversation on a range of thought-provoking discussion topics including where will we want to watch entertainment in the future in ‘Theatre us Dead! Long Live the Pub!’ (Monday 23) and working conditions for parents, ‘Does being a parent make you a bad Artist?’ (Wednesday 25). Friday’s conversation ‘Rebuilding Welsh Theatre: The Rise of the Playwrights’ will be hosted by Welsh theatre company Dirty Protest as they discuss the future of theatre and writing in a future post-pandemic world.

The evening slots at 7.30pm feature four solo artists who are creating and developing new performance work. Unmissable performances will come from Newport dancer Krystal S. Lowe and her new dance theatre piece ‘Seven’, a dance theatre work about the pursuit of wholeness. Through her performance Krystal hopes to explore different ways of intermingling movement with text (Tuesday 24). The Riverfront Theatre & Arts Centre’s Associate Artist Connor Allen will also present ‘The Making of a Monster,’ his short autobiographical piece about a journey into identity (Thursday 26).

All performances across the week will include captioning, making them accessible for all audiences.

​Justin Teddy Cliffe, Producer of RIGHT NOW Online Theatre Festival comments

​ “RIGHT NOW is an expression of urgency. Because theatre isn’t temporarily paused waiting to happen somewhere in the near future, it’s alive but physically unable to be experienced. It’s here right now.”

 “Live Art is in crisis. As a publicly owned multi-functional music venue, pub and arts centre we believe we have a responsibility to support the creative sector in Wales in any way we can. We are making this festival of work public to not only connect artists with audiences, but to promote the wealth of talent and ideas that exist in Wales, currently unable to flourish and function.”

The Riverfront Theatre & Arts Centre, which is currently closed following government guidance, are supporting Le Public Space with this event by providing funding and loaning lighting and camera equipment to help with the live streaming. 

Alan Dear, Head of Theatre, Arts and Culture comments ‘Whilst we are unable to open we are thrilled to be able to continue to engage with the people of Newport and help bring new live entertainment to our audiences. Thanks to the grant we received from the Arts Council of Wales’ Stabilisation Fund I am delighted to be able to provide technical support for Le Pub and this fantastic festival and use our new live streaming equipment for the first time. I can’t wait to experience and enjoy new works from very talented local individuals.’

 All events taking place for RIGHT NOW are free to view online, however the festival is taking donations to support the artists and Le Pub during these difficult times.

For more information about RIGHT NOW Online Theatre Fest, to view the full lineup, and register to watch the events visit https://www.lepublicspace.co.uk/right-now-festival.