Coming up over the next few weeks…
There’s a jam-packed weekend of circus performances, featuring breathtaking acrobatics, gut-busting comedy and jaw-dropping juggling at Festival of Fools this weekend. The festival is the largest comedy and street theatre festival on the island of Ireland, with over 70 performances taking place on the streets of Belfast City Centre and Cathedral Quarter, including Circusful, Simon Llewellyn, Circo Rum Ba Ba, La Sbrindola, Logy On Fire, Grant Goldie, Circus Sonas, Cikada Circus, PanGottic, Tumble Circus, Compañia Depaso, Sam Goodburn, Hands Down Circus, Snatch Circus and more!
Streets of Rother, 18 Hours annual street art festival, is back for 2022 with Streets of Rye at Rye High Street tomorrow. Don’t miss The 2 Men, Fair Play Comedy, The Grand Theatre of Lemmings and Amy Amelia Arts. Then on 7 May head to Streets of Battle for Creature Encounters, Circo Rum Ba Ba, Xena Flame, Half a String, students from Battle and Langton school mentored by Inside Out Theatre Company, and Raven Drumming Group.
Brighton Festival is back to full strength 7-29 May with a joyful celebration of the arts across Brighton city and beyond, with over 150 events and Guest Co-Directors Marwa Al-Sabouni and Tristan Sharps. Some outdoor highlights to see include The Children’s Parade with Same Sky, Witness Stand by Madeleine Flynn & Tim Humphrey, A Weekend Without Walls @ Our Place on 7-8 May with SAY, Christopher Green, Francesca Baglione/Miss High Leg Kick, A Weekend Without Walls @ St Ann’s Well Gardens on 14-15 May with Tara Theatre, The Clay Connection & Supple Productions, A Weekend Without Walls in Crawley on 14 May with Daryl Beeton & Mimbre, Middle Child, Requardt & Rosenberg, A Weekend Without Walls @ British Airways i360 on 14-15 May with Avant Garde Dance, Just Us Dance Theatre, Daryl Beeton & Mimbre, Middle Child, Romeo & Juliet by Windmill Young Actors directed by Tanushka Marah, Peaceophobia by Common Wealth & Fuel, As You Like It by The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, and SMOOSH! by Paraorchestra.
Expect high-quality art, music, and a wonderful day out at the Devizes Street Festival this weekend. Enjoy the fantastically energetic event which sees the Market Place bustling with people, acts, and music, including Avanti Display with Full Circle, Brass Junkies, Ceres by Bassline Circus and Full Tilt Aerial, Dr Jones and Professor Barnard’s Medicine Show, Folkdance Re-mixed with Step Hop House, Half a String with The Lost Colour, Mariachi Las Valentinas, The Playground of Illusions by Travelling Light Circus, Special Delivery by A Bird in the Hand Theatre Company, The Carpeters, The Visionary by Jon Hicks, Encor Une Fois (Once Again) by Tripotes la Compagnie, and more!
Meet Gnomus, the Caretaker of the Earth created by Puppets with Guts, at Stonehenge this weekend. A kind and gentle giant, Gnomus can remember the Neolithic people who built the monument and will be sharing stories about how they built it, who else has visited over the past 5,000 years and reminding us that we must all be caretakers of the earth.
The stunning grounds of Grantham House will come to life this weekend for Grantham Vintage Festival, three days of period & vintage displays, activities, & entertainment, featuring Pemberton and Hague and Mat Ricardo. Pack a picnic, grab some friends, and enjoy some outdoor theatre from The Handlebards, with their new tour of Twelfth Night kicking off on 4 May at Warninglid Grange, Haywards Heath. The HandleBards are cycling Shakespearean actors who carry all set, props and costumes on the back of their bikes, performing extremely energetic, charmingly chaotic and environmentally sustainable Shakespeare plays across the UK, not to be missed!
Expect the unexpected at Now Northwich tomorrow, back to transform the streets of the town centre and Barons Quay with a dazzling programme of dance and street arts for all the family. There’s so much to see, including Museum of the Moon by Luke Jerram, Autin Dance Theatre’s Out of the Deep Blue, Drum & Dance Extravaganza from Juba do Leão & Jubacana, Mimbre’s Lifted, The Bees by Artizani, Movema’s Taking Flight, Frock by Stopgap, Dandyism by Patrick Ziza Dance, Frozen Light Theatre’s Night Out in Nature, Pandora’s Boombox by Dope Male Performance Company, and Salt Stories by About Time Dance Company.
About Us, one of the ten UNBOXED projects, created by 59 Productions, The Poetry Society and Stemettes is in Hull from 30 Apr-6 May. About Us is a free open-air spectacular event using cutting-edge projection mapping, animation, music and poetry to celebrate our extraordinary connections to everything around us: past, present and future. Another of the UNBOXED projects, Green Space Dark Skies, led by Walk the Plank, heads to Lagan Valley AONB- County Down tomorrow and Gower AONB on 13 May. 20,000 people from all paths in life will become Lumenators, each carrying a low impact light into the landscape, experiencing beautiful green spaces across the UK, making patterns on mountains, lakes and moorland.
The Drogheda Arts Festival is back, live and in person 28 Apr-2 May, with a programme of national and international in-door, outdoor and site-specific performances, along with visual arts exhibitions, music, spoken word, theatre, literature, circus, family shows and workshops. On 2 May head to Dominics Park for the DAF Big Day Out, a day of free music, events, and activities for all ages, including Autin Dance Theatre’s Out of the Deep Blue, Tumble Circus with Cycle Circus, Bricí Spraoi’s Imagination Playground, and Goodnight Egg by Bombinate Theatre.
Don’t miss Trevithick Day, an annual community event celebrating Camborne and its most famous son, Richard Trevithick on 30 Apr in Camborne Town Centre. There’ll be steam engines, a steam parade, sound stages with local bands and choirs, street entertainers, stalls, exhibitions, vintage vehicles, and dances led by Camborne Town Band. This weekend also sees the physical return of The Fossil Festival in beautiful Lyme Regis, on the world famous Jurassic Coast. Enjoy a weekend of science, discovery, and fun, with talks and lectures, family activities, a 360 dome cinema, fossil market, exhibits, and workshops.
