Daring new writing, highly experimental works, late-night parties and family shows await those who venture along graffiti-strewn Leake Street and into the eclectic haven of live entertainment, but you'll find further pockets of the festival in venues across Waterloo. This year, VAULT Festival is running with a theme of 'reclaiming joy and holding onto beauty in bleak circumstances'.
New for 2023 is The Flair Ground, a purpose-built, 300-capacity venue, also beneath Waterloo, promising family fun by day and bold, diverse parties by night.
Here are some highlights to look out for at VAULT Festival 2023…
THEATRE
It's a Motherf*cking Pleasure
When: Tuesday 21 – Sunday 26 February, 8:55pm & 9:25pm
Shortlisted for both the Charlie Hartill Special Reserve and Les Enfants Terribles Award, this show by Flawbored examines how blindness can be exploited in the entertainment industry.
Molka
When: Tuesday 7 – Thursday 9 February, 9:30pm
For their debut production, multidisciplinary duo Taeyun Kim and Maja Laskowska explore the rise of spycam crimes, including upskirting, in South Korea, and what effects they have on the victims – who are disproportionately women.
Borders
When: Tuesday 7 – Sunday 12 February, 2:45pm, 6:30pm & 7pm
Based on a true story, Borders follows an Israeli writer and a Lebanese man who meet on Grindr and try to form an intimate relationship against all odds.
The Net Kill
When: Tuesday 7 – Sunday 12 March: 7:15pm; 2:45pm, Saturday 11 March; 6:45pm, Saturday 11 & Sunday 12 March
For its latest comedy, Incognito Theatre portray a 19th-century badminton team who have been sent on a quest to vanquish a mysterious beast.
Vault Festival
NO I.D.
When: Tuesday 28 February - Sunday 5 March, times vary
Tatenda Shamiso sifts through the music he wrote throughout his first year on testosterone, plus letters, signatures and paperwork, to tell the story of his experience as a Black transgender immigrant in the UK.
Katherine and Pierre
When: Saturday 18 & Sunday 19 February, 2:50pm & 5:50pm
This high-spirited and silly show by Bobbie Twaddle and Ellie Begley marries physical theatre and clowning with the songs of pop icon Katy Perry.
Theatre of Gulags
When: Sunday 26 February, 2:30pm, 4:20pm, 6:10pm & 8pm
This immersive theatrical installation by Anya Ostrovskaia takes audiences on a journey through Soviet Union labour camps and the full-scale theatres housed inside them. Along the way, hear from a queer Roma man, a Ukrainian theatre revolutionary, a Jewish puppet maker and the first woman to direct an opera.
My Lover Was A Salmon in the Climate Apocalypse
When: Tuesday 28 February - Sunday 5 March, 9pm/9:30pm
Winner of Staging Change x VAULT Award 2022, Bradán's latest piece of gig theatre is a quirky warning cry about our rapidly changing ecosystem, one that sees its climate-anxious subject become convinced he's a salmon, while his girlfriend looks on in horror. Live folk music and FX pedal soundscapes add atmosphere to the tale.
Vault Festival
VAULT COMEDY FESTIVAL
VAULT's comedy branch is your chance to see new material from established comedians and fresh talent alike, with Adam Riches (Tuesday 7 & Wednesday 8 March), Chloe Petts (Wednesday 25 January – Thursday 9 March), Nabil Abdulrasheed (Friday 3 February), Jordan Brookes (Tuesday 14 – Saturday 18 March), Sikisa (Wednesday 1 & Thursday 2 March) and Joz Norris (Friday 3 & Saturday 4 February) among those performing. Elsewhere, straddling the genres of theatre and comedy, is Dan Kelly's story of trying to run a marathon in North Korea, How I Came Third in the North Korean Marathon, directed by Soothing Sounds for Baby writer Joseph Morpurgo (Saturday 28 & Sunday 29 January, 8:40pm).
FAMILY
At all-new venue The Flair Ground, there's plenty of engaging, sensory entertainment to delight little viewers. Highlights include Cabababarave (Saturday 28 January – Saturday 11 March), a circus show for tots under two; Edinburgh Fringe favourite Science Adventures of the Power Pickle (Saturday 28 January – Sunday 12 February); and puppetry show Around the World With Nelly Bly (Saturday 28 January – Sunday 5 February).
LATES
Kicking off with a chance to celebrate VAULT Festival itself at its Big Birthday Bash (Friday 27 January), the Lates programme is a chance to let your hair down in a vibrant, inclusive and creative environment. There's a sapphic karaoke party, a black femme queer-led strip club, and plenty of burlesque, cabaret and circus among the line-up, plus the chance to have an old-fashioned sing-along around a piano. Check the website for dates, times and how to book.
For the full line-up and ticket booking, visit the Vault Festival website here.
| What | VAULT Festival 2023: theatre, comedy and late-night parties |
| Where | The Vaults, Leake St , London , SE1 8SW | MAP |
| Nearest tube | Waterloo (underground) |
| When |
24 Jan 23 – 19 Mar 23, Times vary depending on event |
| Price | £varies |
| Website | Click here for more information and to book |
