Crossing The Line

Crossing the Line is a partnership of six theatre companies across Europe, all leaders in the field of working with learning disabled artists. Crossing the Line Festival brings these companies together in an online theatre festival, celebrating inclusive art and artists with learning disabilities. This has been made possible due to the project Trasna Na Líne, funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

• The online festival showcases more than 25 events – including theatre performances, documentaries, talks and feature films – from the six companies across six European countries. It is hosted by Theater Babel Rotterdam.

• The main language of the festival is English and performances in French, Swedish, Dutch and Polish will be subtitled in English.

• All events in the online festival are free of charge, but you have to book a ticket. You do this by clicking on the event you want to see and then click the button that says Get Tickets. It will take you to a booking page where you fill in your name and email address. When your booking is done you will receive an email with a personal link to the event.

About the partnership:

The Crossing the Line partnership consists of Moomsteatern in Sweden, Compagnie de l’Oiseau Mouche in France,  Mind The Gap in The United Kingdom, Blue Teapot Theatre Company in Ireland, Theater Babel Rotterdam in The Netherlands and Teatr 21 in Poland.

Artistically led and committed to meeting the new challenges of producing and touring theatre made by learning disabled and non-disabled theatre makers, their aim is to:
bring their artists together to learn from and with each other;
engage with creative and audience development processes;
develop connections with a wider network of European theatre companies with a focus on learning disabled artists; and create a showcase festival.

The partnership was founded in 2014 when Moomsteatern, Compagnie de l’Oiseau Mouche and Mind The Gap joined together to carry out the first Crossing The Line project over a time period of 2,5 years, co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union. The project culminated in the first Crossing the Line Festival, in Roubaix 2017. The same three companies have since worked together in the project Ogmius, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme.

Moomsteatern, Compagnie de l’Oiseau Mouche, Blue Teapot Theatre Company, Theater Babel Rotterdam and Teatr 21 are joined together in the partnership project Trasna Na Líne, co-funded by the Creative Europe programme. Crossing the Line Festival is an important part of the project and was originally to be hosted by Blue Teapot Theatre Company in Galway, Ireland, as part of the European Capital of Culture 2020. The festival in Galway had to be cancelled due to the pandemic and since then the theatre companies have been working towards bringing the festival online instead – now built and hosted by Theater Babel Rotterdam.

So here it is – the online Crossing the Line Festival! Please join us to watch a wide range of professional performances celebrating inclusive art and artists with learning disabilities.