LONDON.- Today, the V&A revealed the programme of its fourth annual Performance Festival, celebrating live performance in all its forms. Opening on 21 April, highlights include a preview of the V&A’s exclusive Virtual Reality recording of David Bowie’s musical Lazarus and the Museum’s first ever stand-up comedy night featuring John Lloyd (Museum of Curiosities, Radio 4), Harriet Braine (Funny Woman Stage Award Winner 2016) and Nish Kumar (Edinburgh Fringe Festival Comedy Award nominee 2015, 2016). It also features a premiere screening of the film Lady Macbeth, followed by a Q&A with the film’s director William Oldroyd, actress Florence Pugh and costume designer Holly Waddington, which will be live-broadcasted to cinemas across the UK.

Based at the V&A, home to the UK’s national collection of theatre and performing arts, the Festival celebrates the diversity of performance with a jam-packed programme of exciting events. Themed around the relationship between British and European stages, the Festival includes a conference day exploring what’s next for the theatre and performance industry post-Brexit.

As 2017 marks the 25th anniversary of the V&A’s National Video Archive of Performance (NVAP), the Festival features panel discussions led by filmmakers from the V&A and the RSC on the past, present and future of capturing theatre on film. Also included is an ‘in conversation’ event chaired by theatre critic Matt Wolf with actors Maureen Lipman and Juliet Stevenson, revealing their favourite theatre productions from the last 25 years.

Geoffrey Marsh, Director, V&A Department of Theatre and Performance, said: “This year the V&A Performance Festival celebrates and explores the relationship between British and European stages. It is an eclectic programme, hugely relevant and timely, that also engages with practice more broadly and internationally.”

Running from Friday 21 April until Sunday 30 April, the V&A Performance Festival runs in tandem with the display The History of Europe – Told by its Theatres, shown in the Museum’s Theatre and Performance gallery. Both the display and Festival examine the relationship between theatre and Europe, national identity, democracy and cross-cultural exchange.

Daily curator-lead tours of the Theatre and Performance gallery will take place throughout the Festival and the full programme of events can be found on the V&A’s website.