Now in its twelfth year, Voila! Theatre Festival returns this November with its biggest and boldest programme yet – a citywide celebration of multilingual, migrant-led and boundary-pushing performance. Co-directed by Fae Fichtner and Katharina Reinthaller and produced by The Cockpit, the festival brings together 450 artists across eight London venues, presenting over 100 shows in 70 languages. But Voila! is about more than theatre; it’s a defiant act of cultural connection in a city where more than 300 languages are spoken daily. FAB UK spoke to Fae and Katharina about breaking linguistic barriers, championing underrepresented artists, and why London needs a panlingual stage now more than ever.
What inspired the creation of a panlingual festival twelve years ago? Can you give us some history of the festival?
Voila! began, almost accidentally, in 2012 as a French and English bilingual festival, when The Cockpit’s director Dave Wybrow happened to programme a handful of French companies around the same time. Sharlit Deyzac (the inaugural Voila! Festival Director), was an actor in one of those shows, and in the debrief after the festival, she had so many ideas that Dave invited her to take charge.
The festival then ran as a French-English bilingual festival until 2016. In light of the Brexit referendum, the then festival directors Sharlit & Amy Clare Tasker felt the festival needed to respond and it was expanded to include all European languages and artists and Voila! Europe was born. But soon this didn’t feel quite right either, as the concept of what or who was ‘European’ was problematic and the festival increasingly programmed more international collaborations (for example a French-Columbian show in 2022) – so we have now opened up the festival to include all languages of the world and the festival is just called Voila! Theatre Festival.
What would you say to encourage someone who’s never seen theatre in another language to come along?
A lot of the shows at Voila! will still have English as their ‘base’ language, interwoven and infused with other languages. Through non-textual context, and the performance of the actors, there is usually no issue of understanding and experiencing a performance, even if you don’t speak a particular language.
I would say, don’t be afraid, don’t worry – be surprised!
Voila! has been described as “an essential festival” by The Stage. How does it feel to have that recognition?
Being acknowledged by a publication like that makes a big difference to the festival. It affirms the need for our work and the festival and reflects the importance of the community, from those working on the pieces to those watching them. It means our work resonates with the cultural sector and London’s audiences and there is hunger for more. It’s something we celebrate and equally use as a motivator to push further.
What happens when audiences hear stories in a language they don’t know, does it change the way they experience theatre?
Yes for sure. The British Theatre can have a tendency to overexplain, to be very, too, literal and leaving little space for imagination. Seeing work in another language opens up another liminal space for experiencing, rather than focusing on the need to ‘understand’ everything. It encourages audiences to really engage with the work and interrogate what it means to them, rather than feeling the need to look for an answer. Theatre as an artform should not provide answers, it is a medium of communication in itself and needs a two way channel. And this is very much reflected in the work that Voila! programmes – both in terms of the panlingual element, but also in the style and concept of the performances.
And think about it from the other side: if you were to live in another country and a British play would be performing at your local theatre, wouldn’t you go and enjoy hearing your native language spoken on stage? What we hope for is that the neighbour who hasn’t heard their language used much in years to find it in our brochure and go to see a show reconnecting with their cultural background and experiencing a little bit of the home they left behind.
What role do you think Voila! plays in shaping the future of theatre in the UK?
Voila! has been a vital platform for artists over the years, with many shows going on tour post their run at the festival. What we offer is the same as any fringe festival, a platform for emerging artists. Our focus on migrant led theatre makers is to level out the stakes and offer them the same opportunities their British counterparts get. More established festivals and venues often programme international stars to make the exchange worth their while and fill the auditorium. We hope to fill the gap, where migrant artists can show their work on a small to midscale level. This step is crucial for any artist to connect with and find their audience. And then there is the audience aspect. We think people are often fearful of watching something in a foreign language. At Voila! they almost can’t get around it and that provides a supportive place to train the eyes, ears and minds of our visitors to comprehend and enjoy a story regardless of the language used. Which hopefully makes them want to go to multilingual work outside the festival.
Can celebrating linguistic and cultural diversity on stage also strengthen connections between London’s communities?
Absolutely! We mentioned this in another interview: London is the most linguistically diverse city in the world; it’s estimated that over 300 languages are spoken in the UK capital. You regularly hear different languages spoken on the street, on your daily commute or the way to the supermarket. Voila! brings these languages together and celebrates them. It opens a space for people to either go and watch something in a language they speak and want to get better at or are native in. Afterwards they can meet others at the bar, discussing translations and interpretations of the piece. And maybe they make the discovery that a neighbour or friend is fluent in the language they’ve been trying to learn. But it’s about more than diversity in languages. It’s about showing different styles of storytelling from all over the world. Something I personally find the most magical experience an international theatre maker can bring to the city.
Voila! Theatre Festival is London’s panlingual festival that celebrates emerging artists from all different backgrounds and cultures. The festival runs across eight London venues until 23rd November. Full information can be found on https://www.voilafestival.co.uk/