The BATS hosts FEATS 2018. Mark your calendars on the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st of May.

BATS is short for British American Theatrical Society. It was founded in 1956 as entertainment for anglophone people living in Antwerp. There were, and are, quite a few due to port activity and the General Motors, later Opel, plant.

Each year anglophone theatrical societies across continental Europe organise an Festival of European Anglophone Theatrical Societies.

Competition

FEATS is “a competitive festival amongst European amateur English-language theatre groups and takes place in a different city each year, including Frankfurt, Geneva, Hamburg, Luxembourg, Stockholm and The Hague.”

“Twelve groups compete in the main festival, so three one-act plays (max. 50min) are performed each evening. A professional adjudicator from the Guild of Drama Adjudicators (GoDA) reviews every group’s production at the end of each evening and awards prizes at the end of the festival, including best production, best actor and actress, stage presentation, stage management, original script and more.”

I’m quoting the BATS’ FEATS 2018 website. Expect theatrical groups from The Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden and Belgium.

The competition will take place at the Rode Zaal of Fakkelteater. Tickets are sold here. You ca find the programme here.

BATS hosted FEATS before. Last time was in 2012.

Fringe

Outside competition there’s the Fringe, at the BATS Belfry Little Theatre on the Paardenmarkt. “The Fringe is open to any and all genres of performance, but running times may not exceed 60 minutes, although workshops may be longer, depending on other programming.”

I’m told FEATS is good fun and interesting, so I will try to attend some f the performances.