Programme theme: Into the Night
For the 2024/25 season, Lyra’s Young Artists have chosen to bravely step ‘Into the Night’, exploring possibilities for adventure after the lights go out. Traditionally a time when all good children are safely tucked up in bed, the after-hours offer a rich playground for artistic enquiry.
We are excited about real life sleepovers, midnight feasts, bedtime stories by campfire and the monster under the bed. We dream of pop-up pillow fights, taking audiences to the moon, all night concerts, the terror of ghost stories and staying up until dawn. We see lantern trails through Craigmillar, shadows by torchlight and an entire audience gazing up at the stars.
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The Young Artists will shortlist, audition and commission the artists they want to work with to create new shows for the 2025 Bright & Wild Festival - watch this space for updates.
Jennifer Steele -
Wednesday Performing Arts
For their Bright & Wild commission the Wednesday Performing Arts group have chosen to work with Jennifer Steele to make a maze of dreams.
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Jennifer is a dancer and theatre maker interested in the fun and fantastical side of performing and can't wait to hear about all those weird dreams we have every time we eat cheese! Through movement, costuming, acting and props, the group will take us into their world of dreams, happy, creepy and properly weird, to show what’s really going on while we sleep. Will you have a good or a bad dream?...we'll decide that!
Sally Charlton -
Thursday Performing Arts
For their Bright & Wild commission the Thursday Performing Arts group have chosen to work with Sally Charlton to make a show all about sleepovers and revolutions
Sally is an artist who works across theatre and choreography and she's interested in what worlds young people can imagine without adult control. The audience will get a glimpse into what really goes on at a sleepover from midnight snacks and scary stories to whole secret meetings while the grown ups are sound asleep.
Mischa Stevens - Youth Music
For their Bright & Wild commission the Saturday Youth Music group have chosen to work with Mischa Stevens to make a night-time adventure through music.
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Mischa is a musician and educator who works across various genres, with a particular interest in musical storytelling. He is excited to collaborate with the young musicians to create rhythms, melodies and words which will make their nocturnal story come to life. Using the full range of instruments and inspirations, the group will bring us deep into the magic of the night, from the pulsing rhythms of fireflies to the magical melodies of the stars.
Jo Sharp - The Outline
​We are presenting a show at Bright and Wild 2025: All Night Camp Out devised theatre performance about a group of teenagers going camping in the woods. The teenage brain NEEDS to take risks to develop, does it harm teenagers when they’re arent allowed to take any risks at all? Will we find freedom in the forest or discover the dark side of going at it alone. Will the Ghillie Dhu step in to save us or leave us to learn for ourselves? Is he there? Is ..... someone..... out there?'all night camp out' is an anti Blair witch project. Where a group of teenagers are lost in the woods (in physical and metaphorical ways) and are then guided to safety by a spirt that inhabits the forest.