Learnings from Latin American Clowns for Northern English Fools

Throughout 2024 Huge Sillytoe worked on an Arts Council England funded project to investigate innovative combinations of Theatre of the Oppressed techniques and queer-dadaist-absurdist performance practices whilst forging new connections between socially engaged arts communities working in the UK and across Latin America. As part of this project Huge Sillytoe collaborated with UNION: The Northern School for Creativity and Activism in Leeds and Green and Away in Worcester to stage a workshop for socially-engaged artists working in the north of England (where Huge is also from) to explore practices of radical performance rooted in Latin America (where Huge has worked extensively during much of their adult life). Here participants were introduced to a blend of Argentinian escraches, Uruguayan milonga-poetry, Brazilian Theatre of the Oppressed, Mexican wrestling, and arte-acción from across the continent, alongside a reflection on how these might inform politically active art and theatre in northern England.

Photos: Koyo Tatsunokuchi.