Credit: Voila! Theatre Festival
An impressive theatre festival is winging its way to London later this year, bringing with it groundbreaking shows that explore and celebrate London’s cultural diversity. The Voila! Theatre Festival will take over 8 venues this November with 110 shows featuring 450 artists and 70 different languages.
If you’ve ever thought that London’s theatre scene was a little too safe, a little too white, a little too English, and a little too able-bodied, this is the theatre festival for you. Now entering its 12th year of programming, Voila! has gone from strength to strength, and this year’s festival is its biggest yet.
Running from November 3-23, the three-week-long collection of performances takes the energy and excitement of the likes of Edinburgh Fringe and Camden Fringe, and imbues it with border-busting representation. What started years ago as an initial selection of performances at the festival’s home, The Cockpit, has grown into a city-spanning set of shows. Shows take place all over London at venues such as the Barons Court Theatre, Etcetera Theatre, Theatre Deli, and more.
Image: @voilafest, via IG
The shows at Voila!
The Voila! Theatre Festival draws its programming from a global call-out for works from artists and companies around the world. They seek out works that might not be put on elsewhere. They encourage applications from “artists who may not find opportunities in the UK due to accent discrimination, language barriers or aesthetic mismatches with mainstream British theatre.”
Over half of the shows are bilingual (in English and another language). Meanwhile, every show that isn’t in English is surtitled, allowing English-speaking audience members to “engage with stories from other cultures”. Importantly, though, it also means that “the nearly 22% of Londoners who do not speak English as their main language can hear their own languages represented on stage.”
The performances encompass more than just traditional theatre shows. Sure, there are plenty of straightforward plays. But there are also scratch nights, live streams, workshops, and events.
Image: @voilafest, via IG
Said Katharina Reinthaller, co-Director of Voila! Theatre Festival:
We were honoured by the variety, quality and number of applications we received for Voila! Theatre Festival this year, and are proud to continue to platform work by multilingual artists. Language is a barrier to engagement in the arts in London, where up to 30% of Londoners speak a language other than English as their first language. More than 250 languages are spoken in the capital, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. However, this is not mirrored in the work we see on British Stages; there’s still little diversity and cultural exchange, and we still don’t hear enough accents on stage. We hope to strengthen the bond with the communities around local venues by presenting work in their native languages and open up a conversation to connect audiences and artists.
Find out more about the Voila! Theatre Festival here.
The Voila! Theatre Festival will run from November 3-23, 2025.