‘I can’t advise you but if I could I would advise you to steal whatever and whenever you can’. For the next nine days Sheffield is host to the International Student Drama Festival and the centre of the of the dramatic world, the only place to be for those interested in following Tim Etchell’s (Forced Entertainment and University of Sheffield) advice… or non advice. Chris Thorpe (selector) assured us that there is still no alternative to looking someone in the eye and engaging whether it be through performance, in workshops or at the bar. He urged us to go forward and connect, to say ‘hello’. With this in mind the sacred rite of christening the stage of the Crucible was carried out impeccably by School of Night, summoning forth the spirits of Gin, Passion and Bob (an unknown man) as requested by the audience to bless the festival. The performance of which was only topped later by the same ensemble in a sort interactive Shakespearean salon where iambic pentameter met tea cosies and Nietzsche. The piece culminated in a rendition of the long lost Shakespearean tragedy Robney of Sheffield. This included a running commentary breaking all the rules of improv, resulting in a deadly and hilarious game of one-upmanship with the death count in the final scene rivalling that of Hamlet. The on stage deaths continued in Newcastle University’s performance of Sweeney Todd with two particularly exquisite portrayals of throat slitting. These superb ‘endings’ make a promising start to the festival and we look forward to saying ‘hello’ to day two.