Save the dates for this year’s Festival!
Get ready to kick off your summer at Basingstoke Festival with three weekends of free street performances for the whole family from Friday 21 June to Sunday 7 July. Pop the dates in your diary to enjoy a programme packed with street theatre, circus, dance, storytelling and music from talented local artists and national acts who have performed across the globe and are stopping in Basingstoke and Deane before heading off on their next international escapade.
Performances will pop-up in Basingstoke town centre and across the borough and are free to watch. This year’s programme is themed on history and is packed with fun, energy, the weird, the wacky and the wonderful as we celebrate everything that makes our borough so special. Expect heritage, arts, culture, community and of course you – our fantastic audiences!
Launching the festival in style is the opening parade on Friday 21 June, where local talent and history combine in a celebratory parade, ending in a dynamic finale show from internationally acclaimed dance theatre company, Motionhouse. Covent Garden favourites Fit Up Productions will also perform its new show ‘Risky Business’. Local band QMC band, The Details will be getting things started in the amphitheatre.
The first weekend brings a charming, playful, light-hearted and non-verbal acrobatic duet in a show named Tape That. Join Jellyfish Theatre for the second year running at Basingstoke Festival, with its new show The Dragon Wagon following the success of Wagon of Dreams last year. The act is back with more inclusive storytelling fun for children. Enjoy lively and joyous, exhilarating, and exciting HENGE by Motionhouse. Expect silly banter and spectacular tricks with Covent Garden stars Fit Up Productions. Be mesmerised and look at time itself with Joli Vyann in its show Timeless.
Boldly tumbling and gracefully leaping into the second weekend of Basingstoke Festival is Lucky Pigeons, where mischievous creatures are eager to invite everyone to join in on their fun. Take part in something different and put together a playground of sound with Orchestra of Objects. Take some time out to explore the history of tea in Trigger’s Teabreak. Help two happy hikers and dive into a lively dance adventure where tents can dance and massive maps swamp the land in Get Lost.
Not forgetting our fantastic local talent! Join Basingstoke’s favourite environmentalist Junk Jodie as she goes on a Tree-TASTIC journey through the Amazon rainforest with her new friend Jenny Jaguar. Brave explorers from four to 4004 can join the time-travel revolution with local street artist Sarah Thomas-Lane. Another local favourite Scratch Built Productions will bring science to life with The Bonkers Balloon Science Show, sponsored by Tomato Energy. Enjoy a show that is full of spills, thrills, explosions and pops.
The closing weekend brings Serving Sounds, a bar that serves bass rather than beer. Head on a journey through the history of art- SPLAT! Take part in a historical ramble with the Basingstoke Heritage Society. See like you’ve never seen them before in Familie.
There is so much more to explore throughout the festival including the Festival Hub pop-up in Festival Place, the Whitchurch Open Air Theatre and many other wonderful indoor and community events taking place across the borough.
Can’t wait? Neither can we! Check out the website to see the full programme and all up-to-date information at www.basingstokefestival.co.uk.
Notes:
Basingstoke Festival champions new work created specifically for local audiences and supports the development of new art in the borough. The festival is produced by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.
Basingstoke Festival is a partner in Without Walls, a network of organisations bringing innovative outdoor arts to towns and cities across England. Find out more on withoutwalls.uk.com.
Without Walls is a network of over 35 organisations presenting the best outdoor arts to people in towns and cities across England. Since its formation in 2007, Without Walls has developed and toured over 200 new shows both in the UK and internationally across 22 countries.
Without Walls is supported by Arts Council England as a National Portfolio Organisation. Find out more: withoutwalls.uk.com.
Basingstoke Festival is in partnership with Village Hotel Basingstoke and Festival Place.
