Ensemble Festival (Certain Blacks), Royal Docks, London
Jul 21, 2023 - Jul 23, 2023

A free festival featuring an eclectic mix of circus, dance and street performance.

Ensemble Festival, presented by Certain Blacks in partnership with the Royal Docks Team, is a free festival featuring an eclectic mix of theatre, circus, dance, music, and digital art. This year’s outdoor festival at Royal Victoria Docks is part of Without Walls 2023, a consortium of over 30 festivals and arts organisations that brings fantastic outdoor arts to people in towns and cities across England.

This year’s festival explores themes of ecology, modern living, and reconnection in busy times and is part of Without Walls 2023 – a consortium of over 30 festivals and arts organisations that brings fantastic outdoor arts to people in towns and cities across England.

The programme includes two days of pop-up performances around City Hall before a two-day live performance programme across the weekend at Western Gateway and a spectacular aerial performance from Gorilla Circus to end both evenings at Dockside Lawns.

Check out the full programme below:

Wed 19 Jul
Western Gateway (Royal Victoria DLR)

12:00 – 16:00

Day one of pop-up performances around City Hall before the festival weekend. Click on each performance for more information.

  • Compagnie Krak – THE BENCH INVASION
  • dotComedy – NEWS DESK
  • Bureau Of Silly Ideas – CARBON FOOTPRINT

Thu 20 Jul
Western Gateway (Royal Victoria DLR)

13:00 – 16:00

Day two of pop-up performances around City Hall before the festival weekend. Click on each performance for more information.

  •  Compagnie Krak – THE BENCH INVASION
  • Autin Dance Theatre – Out of the Deep Blue
  • Avant Garde Dance – S.C.R.U.M

Sat 22 & Sun 23 Jul
Western Gateway (Royal Victoria DLR)

12:00- 19:00

Two days of quirky shows and thought-provoking performances for all the family. Highlights include a high-energy dance piece, a multi-sensory sound installation, a theatre performance you can smell and a whole lot more!

  •  Amina Khayyam Dance Company – You & Me
  • Ghetto Fabulous – Family Catwalk Extravaganza
  • Just More Productions – Fussy Foodies – Battle of the Pans
  • Sonia Sabri Company – MUGHAL MINIATURES: The Awakening
  • Trigger – TEA BREAK
  • Working Boys Club – SERVING SOUNDS
  • Office Eléctrico 28 – [THE FRAME]
  • Miss High Leg Kick – EAU DE MEMOIRE

Sat 22 & Sun 23 Jul

Dockside Lawns (Royal Albert DLR)

20:30 – 21:30

Gorilla Circus – UNITY

A large-scale aerial spectacular that merges immersive theatre, circus and community stories in a powerful but intimate way, allowing audiences to be close to and in amongst the action.