27
Mar
Ripon Theatre Festival launches summer programme
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Ripon Theatre Festival has launched its summer programme, including hit shows from the Edinburgh Fringe.
The festival, which celebrates its fifth birthday this year, will run from July 5 until July 12 and include an array of performances and activities.
The summer programme is set to include theatre in all its forms, from storytelling and puppetry to cabaret, Shakespeare and circus.
Katie Scott, festival director, said:
Ripon Theatre Festival is celebrating a five-year milestone birthday and we are proud of all that we have achieved so far.
Community-led, but showcasing some of the best professional touring work alongside an inclusive and lively outdoor and family programme, the Festival is hugely valued for its variety and originality. We can’t wait to share our 2026 offering and bring the joy of live performance to an even wider audience.
Festival programme
This year, the festival will welcome hit shows from the Edinburgh Fringe, including Down to Chance (pictured above), a fast-paced thriller now touring nationwide and Fringe hits One Man Poe and The Poetical Life of Philomena McGuinness.
Meanwhile, the theatre programme will also include pop-up events in some of the city’s cafes and pubs.
A knitting cabaret from Canada, a one-man show about British pub life, walkabout acts, Pop-up Puppetry and Poetry for Breakfast are just some of the acts that will appear in friendly cafes, pubs and independent shops.
Do What Ya Mamma Told Ya.
The weekend of July 11 and 12 will see free family entertainment as the festival hosts street arts and circus theatre from across the four nations and beyond. Highlights include dance-circus troupe Circo Rumbaba and comedy, cooking and circus with Do What Ya Mamma Told Ya.
Elsewhere, established regionally-based artists, such as Victoria Firth feature alongside up-and-coming artists including Constance Peel with new play Service Please.
Circo Rumbaba and Down To Chance.
Providing a platform for locally-inspired works-in-progress, the festival will also offer audiences the first chance to experience Outcast which explores life in medieval Ripon and Jord which takes Mother Shipton as a starting point.
The festival’s summer season culminates in a stunning open-air Shakespeare finale with The Dukes Theatre Company’s Romeo & Juliet.
All tickets on sale from Saturday, March 28. For tickets, programme details, and more information, visit the Ripon Theatre Festival website.
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