Take Me Somewhere reveals its full programme of radical performance that will take over Glasgow from Wednesday 15 – Sunday 26 October 2025, inviting audiences into spaces of care, resistance and transformation.
The international, biennial festival and year-round sector support organisation exists to position Scotland as the place to create and experience radical performance.
This year’s festival brings together more than 19 boundary-pushing works that move between intimate one-on-one encounters and large-scale immersive experiences; exploring themes of labour, memory, ritual and desire.
From collective last suppers to futuristic choreographies of grief, from ice-skating fan fiction to donkey-led revolutions, Take Me Somewhere continues to challenge what performance can be, and where it can take audiences.
Highlights of this year’s festival include Dan Daw’s EXXY, a tender yet audacious reflection on class and queerness, The Last Supper by internationally acclaimed Brazilian collective MEXA, and high-intensity genre-defying work FRANK by choreographer and dancer Cherish Menzo.
Scotland based performance collective 21 Common bring an immersive audience experience in the form of Regina Caeli – a collaboration between artist Lucy Gaizely and her partner of 23 years Gary Gardiner, to craft a posthumous finale for her recently deceased Father – an activity which also maps the trajectory of their relationship.
Audience interaction is further offered in asses.massesby Patrick Blenkarn + Milton Lim, an epic playable theatre experience exploring automation and revolt through the eyes of a donkey, whilst ZU-UK’s Within Touching Distance uses XR technology to offer an intimate and tender experience that journeys through life and care.
At 80, Susanne Kirnbauer-Bundy returns to the stage inCome Back Again to present an arresting duet about aging and legacy through ballet. You Live You Learn by Antje Schupp is about burnout, our relationship to work and the significance it has in society, asking:
‘How do you perform when you can’t? How do you work when you shouldn’t?’ Whom do you ask for help?
The festival amplifies voices from across the globe with works that confront borders, identity and cultural memory. Lukas Avendaño’s Bardaje navigates the archaeology of queer indigeneity in Zapotec culture, Tania El Khoury’s Cultural Exchange Rate immerses audiences in a century of border crossings, and Tiziano Cruz’s Wayqeycuna offers a poetic act of resistance against the erasure of Andean heritage.
Daniel Kok and Luke George bring their powerful seriesStill Lives to Glasgow in a new, city-specific iteration that dives into the charged world of professional wrestling; a scene with deep local roots and fiercely loyal fans.
This durational, site-responsive work will see the artists collaborate with Glasgow-based wrestlers to re-stage the high drama and choreography of the ring, binding and suspending bodies in a meditation on power and performance.
From Glasgow-based wrestlers to performers, Take Me Somewhere puts the spotlight on Scottish based artists with a series of commissions as Craig Manson presents SELKIE: The Wet & Wild Show!, Jo Hague opens self insert outside fan spiral (on ice) and Shawn Nayar shares The Mongrel.
In addition to staged performances, the festival will present bold public realm works, including Paul Ramírez Jonas’ Public Trust, which invites Glaswegians to question the value of their word by making a promise in public, displayed alongside political pledges and media headlines on a monumental marquee board.
Reflecting the organisation’s commitment to cutting-edge international collaboration, radical imagination and bold live experience, this year’s festival summons artists and audiences into a shared act of dreaming, daring and transformation.
Talking about Take Me Somewhere, Artistic Director LJ Findlay-Walsh said: We are delighted to announce the full programme for Take Me Somewhere. Whether gathering at a communal feast, facing the monstrous within, or standing in the fire of ambition and desire, through these works audiences can explore what it means to want better and more. We’re excited to continue presenting work that welcomes audiences to challenge their perception of what performance is, what it can be, and who it is for.
Take Me Somewhere returns to Glasgow from 15 – 26 October 2025.
For more information on the full programme visit: takemesomewhere.co.uk
Header image: The Mongrel by Shawn Nayar © Tiu Makkonen.