Trends in German and Scottish Contemporary Theatre

For the first time, the showcase "Performing Arts Made in Germany" presents four productions as a cross-section of performing arts from Germany at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. To complement the showcase organised by Kreativ-Transfer, the Goethe-Institut is facilitating an accompanying programme.
This panel discussion offers an opportunity to gain deeper insights into Germany's diverse dance, circus and theatre landscape and to learn more about current trends in the Scottish and German theatre and performance scene.
Moderated by Dr. Ann-Christine Simke, five experts will discuss the latest developments in the German and Scottish scene. The panel is made up of representatives from the Scottish scene, LJ Findlay-Walsh and Louise Stephens, as well as professionals working in Germany, Claudius Bensch and Chiara de' Nobili & Alex Miller.
The discussion is primarily aimed at professionals, but is also open to the interested general public.

About the panelists:
CLAUDIUS BENSCH is agent at aurora nova and was part of the jury for Performing Arts Made in Germany.
LJ FINDLAY-WALSH is Artistic Director of Take Me Somewhere Festival, Glasgow’s international contemporary performance festival in Scotland. She is Senior Performance Curator of Scotland’s largest contemporary arts venue Tramway and curator of the biennial, Dance International Glasgow (DiG). Previous roles include Senior Producer of the Arches arts venue in Glasgow where she worked for over a decade on projects such as Behaviour and Arches Live festivals. She has worked across Europe including as a Co-Curator of Plateaux Festival 2011 in Frankfurt. She has held roles as Board Member of Articulation, (Scotland's advocacy organisation for physical performance) and advisor to BSL Buzzcut, Glasgow and various advisory roles through the Federation of Scottish Theatre. She is an ISPA fellow (International Society of the Performing Arts) and holds an MA in Art History from the University of Glasgow.

Dr ANN-CHRISTINE SIMKE is Lecturer in Performance at the University of the West of Scotland. Her research and teaching focuses on dramaturgy practice past and present, intersectional and anti-racist theatre practices as well as decolonial and postcolonial theatre and theory. Her edited collection (with Anselm Heinrich) Dramaturgies of War was published in December 2023 by Palgrave Macmillan.
MILLER DE NOBILI was established in 2020 as a collaboration between Maria Chiara de’ Nobili and Alexander Miller. Connected by a shared vision, the duo aimed to develop a platform that seamlessly integrated their joint passions for breaking, contemporary dance and urban dance-theatre, alongside acting techniques. Their initial project Momento won Scapino Ballet Rotterdam’s Production Prize. Their piece PACK debuted in 2021 at Dancing About festival in Hellerau and was subsequently presented at the Tanzplattform Deutschland 2022. Also in 2022, Miller de Nobili produced clouds for tomorrow, which was presented at PACT Zollverein, Tanzplattform Bern and the TanzLabor Ulm, among other venues. The same year, they produced Stay and up the slippery slope, supported by Staatsballett Hannover. Their work Don’t you dare! premiered in 2022, co-produced by HELLERAU - European Centre for the Arts. They participated in the Rotterdam International Duet Choreography Competition (RIDCC) in 2023 with Until Again. They also created Song of the Dark Forest for Scapino Ballet Rotterdam. In 2024, they premiered Labyrinth, developed through a series of residencies with L’Agora of Montpellier Danse in France, Teatros del Canal in Madrid, Spain and Residenzzentrum tanz+ in Baden, Switzerland. In July 2024, MdN will premiere “There was still time” at Biennale Danza commissioned by director Wayne McGregor and co-produced by La Biennale di Venezia and Centro Coreografico Canal.
LOUISE STEPHENS is the Creative Director/CEO at the Playwrights' Studio, Scotland. Playwrights' Studio, Scotland is the nation's only arts organisation exclusively dedicated to the long-term support, development and promotion of Scotland's playwrights. We work actively and creatively with playwrights, connecting them with audiences and organisations, for the ultimate enrichment and enjoyment of the people of Scotland and beyond. We do this through mentoring, fostering industry connections, bursaries, public events and script reading services. Louise has worked across the UK and Ireland as a dramaturg since 2006. As well as working in-house dramaturgically, in commissioning and in literary management at the Traverse, Royal Court and Abbey Theatres, she has worked with a range of independent theatre makers and theatre companies.Theatre companies include the National Theatre of Scotland; Tron Theatre; Tiata Fahodzi; A Play, a Pie and a Pint; Four Rivers Theatre Company; Curve, Leicester; Live! Theatre, Rifco, and Graffiti. Theatre makers include Rachael Young, FellSwoop (Palmyra: Total Theatre Award for Innovation, Experimentation & Playing with Form), Jenna Watt (Flâneurs: Fringe First 2012; Faslane, Fringe First 2016), Jody O'Neill and Christian O'Reilly. Louise has a PhD in Creativity Management from the University of St Andrews and is acting Chair of Deafinitely Theatre Company.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Dance Base, Scotland's National Centre for Dance, 14-16 Grassmarket, Edinburgh, United Kingdom