Coming up over the next two weeks…
Today sees the return of the Norfolk & Norwich Festival, celebrating 250 years with 17 days of music, performance, circus, literature and free outdoor arts. This evening at 6pm see Dominoes by Station House Opera where thousands of breezeblocks will create a moving sculpture that will travel through Norwich City Centre. Then on Sat and Sun experience Unfurl by Air Gaints, a garden like no other where nature, art and technology have combined to create a dreamscape of interactive gentle giant robots made from fabric and air which tower up to 5m high. On 18, 19 and 21 May see Peaceophobia by Common Wealth & Fuel, an unapologetic response to rising Islamophobia around the world. Part car-meet part-theatre, the show explores how you find peace in a world that tells you who you are. Then on 21-22 May turn up, kick-back and enjoy the Festival’s free family Garden Party featuring an array of the country’s finest new outdoor shows, including Matthew Harrison, Joli Vyann, Daryl Beeton & Mimbre, Fatt Projects, Theatre Témoin, Avant Garde Dance/Tony Adigun, The Clay Connections & Supple Productions, SAY, and Norwich Puppet Theatre.
This evening and tomorrow head to Coventry for the world premiere of The Awakening by Gratte Ciel, an event unlike anything Coventry has ever seen before, where live music will fill the air whilst acrobats and aerialists display incredible feats of human strength and resilience, rising to a meteoric climax with a spectacular explosion of colour. Tomorrow This is the City, a spectacular parade featuring some of Coventry UK City of Culture’s greatest hits from the last 12 months will work its way through Coventry City Centre. Then on Sunday in Coventry see the incredible drone show Our Wilder Family. This record-breaking show will be the longest drone display in the UK, inspired by the beauty of nature all around us. World-famous drone artists, Celestial, have partnered with City Voices and schools across Coventry to create this stunning display, accompanied by local poetry and a new sound score created in collaboration with local communities by Dan Jones.
Brighton Festival is back to full strength, running until 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 still to come include 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 on 21-22 May, Peaceophobia by Common Wealth & Fuel from 25-29 May, As You Like It by The Lord Chamberlain’s Men from 26-28 May, and SMOOSH! by Paraorchestra on 28-29 May.
Streets of Rother, 18 Hours annual street art festival, is back for 2022 with the Puddings and Pathways Festival tomorrow, celebrating the regenerated 1066 Country Walk. Circo Rum Ba Ba will be performing their show ‘1066, What Women?’ a light hearted look at the forgotten females of 1066 told in three scenes at three venues along the 1-66 Country Walk. Discover the Peterborough Celebrates Festival this weekend, a new, free, family-orientated festival in Nene Park that will bring communities together, featuring Lost in Translation Circus, Ockham’s Razor, Bureau of Silly Ideas and many more.
On Sunday there’s workshops, talks, entertainment, local traders, and street food at the Urban Village Fete at Greenwich Peninsula. Take part in dance workshops with Greenwich Dance, join Folk Dance Remixed for a performance and workshop as they present Step Hop House, enjoy a sports day with a twist with Jon Hicks Allympics, and listen to Bradley Zero headlining a brilliant music line-up throughout the day.
From 21 May experience Sanctuary, a unique commemorative public memorial by David Best built in the stunning Miners’ Welfare Park in the heart of Bedworth. Produced by Artichoke, in association with Imagineer, Sanctuary will stand as an unforgettable temporary structure, offering a moment to commemorate the nation’s loss during the Covid-19 pandemic, to mark the rebirth, recovery and regeneration of the whole community. On 28 May a spectacular finale will see the structure be ceremonially set alight in a powerful symbol of catharsis and rebirth.
Pack a picnic, grab some friends, and enjoy some outdoor theatre from The Handlebards, with their new tour of Twelfth Night at Globe Neuss 13-14 May, JAGS Sports Club 17 May, Luton Hoo Estate 19 May, The Quarry Theatre 21 May, Millenium Pavilion 22 May, Stow Hall Gardens 24 May, Pensthorpe Natural Park 25 May, Castle Acre Priory 26 May, and many more locations throughout the summer.
Green Space Dark Skies, led by Walk the Plank, heads to Gower AONB today and Dartmoor National Park on 21 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. In Milton Keynes on Saturday and Sunday head to Campbell Park for Art in the Park 2022 produced by the Milton Keynes Islamic Arts & Culture Organisation. Enjoy cultural music, international artists, carnival entertainment alongside live demonstrations and workshops.
From 18 May-30 Nov Breathe:2022 will be taking over Lewisham on sites near the South Circular Road showcasing the impact of air pollution on the borough and beyond. Breathe:2022 will be a striking multi-part new public artwork that updates Dryden Goodwin’s 2012 Breathe original and will see people from local activist groups including Choked Up, Mums for Lungs and the Ella Roberta Family Foundation, being drawn and animated as they ’breathe’ and ’fight for breath’.
In France from 18-22 May Les 3 éléphants, a festival of music and street arts, takes over downtown Laval with more than 65 artistic proposals in around twenty different places in the city centre. If you’re in Spain from 19-22 May check out Umore Azoka, the excellent international Street Arts festival of Leioa. Also in Spain, Festival Internacional de Teatro y Artes de Calle runs 25-29 May, transforming public spaces in the city of Valladolid. Every two years, the city of Rastatt hosts the Internationales Straßentheaterfestival tête à tête, the largest street theatre festival of its kind in Germany, and this year it’s running from 24-29 May. Then in the Netherlands from 26 May to 6 Jun there’s great outdoor arts at the Karavaan Festival in the Groot Alkmaar region, presenting exceptional quality arts of all disciplines.
