As the Bitesize Festival at Riverside Studios is about to start its final week, we caught up with programming manager Rhys Williams to find out more about where this fringe showcase fits in the London theatrescape.
Check out the Riverside Studio website.
Read our reviews of Bitesize productions Dickless and Dazzling.
Bitesize is fast becoming one of the premier places to catch new work in the capital. How did it start, and how has it evolved?
Bitesize started back in 2021 as an idea to create a new platform for emerging performers, producers, and theatre-makers of all types.
Our audiences love creative work that challenges, inspires, and pushes boundaries, and in Bitesize Festival, they have a chance to expand their horizons.
The festival is in its 4th incarnation, and has grown in size and impact, but it follows the same principle it did at the start.
Around 25 new works spread across one month, performed in a professional and high-profile London venue, and serving as a launchpad and creative development space for the next generation of theatre artists.
This year it is sitting in what was previously Vault Festival space. Although Riverside Studios is a very different venue, are you hoping to attract a similar audience?
We’re huge fans of Vault Festival at Riverside, and the work of festivals like Vault and Bitesize is doing so much to profile fantastic, energetic artists on London stages.
We hope to attract audiences that are hungry for something new and want to see the ‘next big thing’.
Our venue is so well connected, just a short walk from Hammersmith Broadway, and our festival pass will get you into every show for the equivalent of under £2 each – so we hope to attract theatregoers old and new both from London and further afield.
You have 27 shows on this year. How difficult is it to make the decision of which companies and ideas to showcase?
It’s incredibly tough. This year we had the strongest batch of proposals yet, and as always, we made sure every script and pitch was read in full.
We look for work which is well written with compelling characters, and we look for a clear vision of how it will look and feel in the space.
What’s been the biggest success of the previous three Bitesize Festivals?
That’s a tough question, as there have been so many successes!
A success that has stayed particularly ‘close to home’ is Chaotic Cabaret, a now regular event at Riverside that sees hilarious hosts and guest artists perform a variety of acts, often based on the season, like our recent Valentines’ Day performance.
More generally, Bitesize Festival 4, which is just coming to a close, will be our biggest and most-sold festival yet. We’ll be sharing more successes from this year at our awards ceremony next week.
You’ve recently had Ulster American at the Riverside, one of the most expensive shows for audiences. How do you think fringe festivals like this one fit with shows headlined by big Hollywood players, and why is it crucial that emerging work remains supported and accessible to all?
Ulster American was a huge success for Riverside, with a sold-out run and a huge amount of positive impact, bringing footfall and added profile to Hammersmith, and to off-west end theatre in general.
Throughout the run, we worked with the production team to make sure that audiences of all backgrounds had a chance to see the show, through operating an accessible digital queue for day tickets, and removing booking fees for our ‘dive-in’ members which included people from lower council tax brackets.
At Riverside Studios, we are proud to welcome established shows with high-profile casts, works by emerging artists, and touring productions to our theatre stages.
High-grossing productions and large-scale theatre hires help us to operate our stages for grassroots work, both at Bitesize Festival and across the year, but we recognise that more needs to be done to ensure everyone is included, and the continued growth of Bitesize Festival is a huge part of our commitment to this.
For those preparing to pitch their work to next year’s Bitesize, what kind of work fits best with the festival’s unique vision?
Bitesize shows are generally ‘bite-sized’, being around 60 minutes and with fairly limited forces. But honestly, we’re open to all kinds of genres, formats and themes.
We love seeing submissions that expand on all areas – we want to see good writing and character work, but we also want to see your ideas for lighting, sound and set, and how these will serve the piece.
Some productions also send over performer clips and poster design ideas. The more we can see, the better.