TILT23 Festival

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Mon 10 Jul 2023 - Sun 16 Jul 2023

One of the country’s largest aerial and physical theatre festivals, TILT, returns to Birmingham this July.

Celebrating its eighth year in the city the seven-day festival, produced by Birmingham-based physical theatre company RoguePlay, features acrobatics, hand balancing, trapeze, strap and silk hoop and contortion at venues in the heart of Birmingham.

Artists taking part include Kim Wildborne, director of West Midlands Circus Centre and producer of TILT23 Festival, who specialises in silk and rope and Angeliki Nikolakaki from Greece who specialises in straps and silk hoop. Also appearing are Portugal-based Fabio Pinna, one of the first active cyr wheel coaches in Europe, and Michael Standen who performs hand balancing, acrobatics and dance trapeze. Also on the bill are Rebecca Hannah who specialises in backbending, yoga and contortion and Felix Fogg who will be teaching trapeze and Chinese pole.



The programme opens with PRO NIGHT on 14 July, a spectacular evening of performances by the professional artists giving audiences the chance to experience up-close-and-personal performances within the intimate setting of the Circus Centre studio.

THE TIME IS NOW on 15 July is an all-day family-friendly event staging sustainable performances by sustainable organisations. Events include Parent & Child Aerial, the Birmingham premiere of RoguePlay's new show FORESTS, upcycling workshops, free Champagne reception with live music and Scratch That! a community and emerging artist showcase.

Local groups and artists featured include Midlands-based Company Apidae, Worcester’s Translucent Dance, Rogueplay’s Young Aerialists and hoop artist Fleur Hall.

RoguePlay’s Kim Wildborne said: “We’re very excited to be back once again this year to offer our audiences and new fans the chance to experience performances from some of the most talented physical theatre and aerial performers in the world.”

This year RoguePlay has announced its Nothing New strategy, a pledge for TILT to strive to be zero waste. The company has already committed to waste sorting, upcycling, tree free paper, solar-powered lighting and sound, plastic free and renewable energy.

Kim added: “We are especially delighted that our Saturday events feature sustainable organisations and the Birmingham premiere of our brand new show FORESTS with a vegan performance team of global heritage artists. FORESTS confronts the systemic racism driving the creation of ‘treeless land’, whilst exposing the futility of losing precious resources for fleeting products such as toilet paper.”



Following its success at last year’s festival, TILT23 once again aims to create opportunities for artists and engage audiences both on and offline via hybrid programming, including the TILT Aerial Dance Film Festival - particularly highlighting marginalised voices and underrepresented women. Films are selected based on challenging the possibilities of what aerial dance and circus can look like in video form. The chosen films will be screened at the TILTed Film Festival which takes place on Sunday 16 July at West Midlands Circus Centre, Digbeth. The screening will also feature RoguePlay’s award winning film, 3am Waitress.

TILT23 will also hold a week-long series of training workshops which provide those in the industry with the chance to work with professional artists across a range of aerial and physical theatre skills. Attracting people from across the UK, these sessions will be held both in person and online between 10-16 July.

Booking details for performances and training workshops can be found here here . Tickets need to be pre-booked for free events.

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