Preview: Contact Young Company’s Baby Fever

Baby Fever is an exciting new piece of theatre created by Contact Young Company and Theater DEGASTEN. It is presented by Contact and SICK! Festival.

Contact is ‘where young people change their lives through the arts.’ They are the leading national theatre and arts venue to place young people at the heart of the decision-making of everything. Contact Young Company is Contact’s renowned, Manchester Theatre Award-winning young ensemble.

Theatre DEGASTEN is a non-profit organisation that aims to develop the talents of young people in theatre.

SICK! Festival is an upcoming festival that ‘faces up to the complexities of mental and physical health.’ They weave in perspectives from researchers, clinical practitioners, public health professionals, charities, and those with lived experience of the issues that they are addressing. So, their work aims to offer an authentic portrayal of the realities faced by various groups in society.

Baby Fever asks the interesting question: if happiness can be bought, are milestones the new currency?

Buying a house, getting married and having a baby are all seen as measures of ‘success’. Baby Fever questions whether these milestones are outdated. Additionally, the piece explores the relationship between ‘milestone and materialism,’ and will fuse movement with monologues and physical theatre. To make a comment about trust, the actors will perform parts of the piece with their eyes closed.

Baby Fever is an interactive piece of theatre, and audience-members will be sat on mattresses and chairs. The show will last as long as each audience wants it to – typically between 20 minutes and 1 hour. It sounds like an immersive experience as well as an entertaining play.

This piece is part of Contact and SICK! Festival’s ‘pay between’ scheme. Audience members can choose to pay between £5-15 to watch the show, and those who pay £15 will support cheaper tickets for other audience members.

Everything about this piece sounds admirably progressive. So, whether you’re keen to immerse yourself into an interesting piece of theatre or you want to support a progressive collaboration, you ought to give yourself a case of baby fever and get yourself a ticket to this exciting new show.

Baby Fever runs at STUN Studio from 1^st until 3^rd October.