Help get Beth to Belgium!

Hi, My name is Beth Gibson and I’ve been selected to be a part of a small company with the Experimental Theatre Collective going to Belgium to perform a devised physical theatre piece called The Ground Remembers Us at as Antwerp’s World Children’s & Youth Performing Arts Festival from the 21st - 30th of August. I will need help affording for flights from Christchurch, New Zealand to London, England and for a train from England to Belgium. We will also be travelling to Ypres, a significant site in New Zealand history, to perform at the Flanders Fields museum.

This is an incredible opportunity for me to experience performing to a wider audience, and also learn more about NZ’s connection to the Western Front and the impact of WWI which is the topic of our performance. 

In total, this will cost $5,000 which I am hoping to raise through different means of fundraising and applying for grants.

I’m a 19 year old uni student studying Law & Criminal Justice at the University of Canterbury. Aside from my studies, drama has been my main passion since the age of 12. My theatre journey started when I was cast as a lead role in my primary school’s production of Seussical Jr., and continued through my childhood as I did acting classes at the Court Theatre in Christchurch. This lead to me being part of the Court Theatre Youth Company in 2023 & 2024. I am currently in a youth improv group at the same theatre, expanding my acting skills. In terms of my acting skills, I mainly delve into Shakespeare or modern plays, but also have experience with stage combat, mime, puppeteering, and physical theatre, with the latter being the core of this performance.

With me on this journey to perform The Ground Remembers Us at Antwerp’s World Children’s & Youth Performing Arts Festival is a group of 6 other amazing performers and our director Blaise Barham from Theatre New Zealand and Experimental Theatre Collective.

This trip will take place over 3 weeks in August 2026. I am fundraising to cover my individual costs of:

• Travel
• Accommodation
• Food
• Daily living expenses

All donations raised here will be put towards the total needed cost of $5000 for the trip.

The Ground Remembers Us is an ensemble-focused devised physical theatre piece using letters in verbatim written by soldiers in WWI, exploring what New Zealand soldiers endured and the impact on our people now. it focuses on movement to portray not just death and loss, but conditions of the war: the mud, the repetition, the exhaustion, the fear, and the long-term physical and psychological impact of war.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me to engage in theatre outside of New Zealand to not only represent my country and our meaningful devised piece, but to learn theatre skills at the festival that I would not have learnt in my home country.