Full Programme Announced For Transform 23, Leeds' International Performance Festival

Part of LEEDS 2023: Year of Culture, Transform 23 is a future-gazing festival that invites audiences and artists alike to contemplate how we might live differently, with a distinctive mix of bold, vivid and socially conscious performances staged in iconic city venues and unusual spaces throughout the city of Leeds.

With over 100 artists from all over the world – including Brazil, South Africa, Australia, Netherlands, Iceland, and the UK – Transform 23 has truly earned its International moniker.

Descending on Leeds this autumn, the festival aims to create collaborations between invited overseas performers and local artists to create performances that sit at the intersection of different art forms.

Signature productions and world premières

Based on hundreds of real-life secrets submitted by young people in Leeds and Reykjavik, artist Ásrún Magnúsdóttir, in collaboration with local Leeds-based performers, presents the world première of SECRETS.

Australian company APHIDS draw on pop culture’s orphan tropes in the UK première of OH DEER! reflecting on personal and universal experiences of loss with an integrated cast from Leeds and Melbourne.

Brazilian collective, MEXA, merge club culture with operatic vocals, 90s pop music and video in the UK première of Pumpitopera Transatlantica, a vivid re-imagining of Homer’s Odyssey that draws on their individual, personal experiences to create an everyday epic.

In a test of physical endurance, an ensemble cast grapples with themes of life, death, hope and rebirth in the UK première of ONE SONG - a spectacular performance on an epic scale by prolific Belgian theatre maker Miet Warlop.

Katy Baird provides a raw and unfiltered glimpse into the human desire for connection in the world première of Get Off, a Transform co-commission.

UK Premières

Cherish Menzo and Camilo Mejía Cortes explore ways to detach their bodies from how they are perceived and the daily reality in which they move, in the UK première of (afro) futuristic dance show DARKMATTER.

Based on real-life telephone conversations, theatre maker Nastaran Razawi Khorasani explores the invisible stories of an Iranian boy and girl living under dictatorship in the UK première of Songs for no one.

An evocative documentary theatre show on the world of deep sea mining – Out of the Blue – is the final part of Silke Huysmans and Hannes Dereere’s trilogy on the mining industry.

Choreographer Chiara Bersani explores the politics of our access to nature in the UK première of SOTTOBOSCO, a gentle and evocative dance performance where sounds and gestures gradually evolve into a new form of language.

Hannah Buckley, Hollie Miller and Craig Scott present their durational installation Blood Bone Breath bringing together movement, image and sound to prioritise softness, slowing down and cultivating deep listening.

Public Art

Paul Ramírez Jonas presents Public Trust, a monumental marquee board of vows made by the residents of Leeds – alongside those made by politicians, scientists, economists, corporations and weather forecasters – to be displayed and engaged with at Leeds train station, in partnership with Leeds Light Night.

Artist Dmytro Levytskyi offers a window into the everyday realities of life in the Ukrainian city of Kyiv in Photos of Sichovykh Striltsiv Street an intimate photo exhibition and audio experience at Leeds Trinity shopping centre.

Special Events

Bridging experimental music and operatic performance, South African artist Desire Marea will present an experimental and operatic concert at Leeds Left Bank. In partnership with Leeds Night Night, the venue will be transformed with music, visuals and installation.

An epic club experience for the finale of Transform 23 CLUB ODYSSEY will feature DJs and performers from MEXA alongside explosive acts from across Leeds and beyond.

Transform Happy Hour invites audiences to join the Transform team and festival artists for early evening drinks, conversation and the context behind this year’s programme.