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22
Apr 2023
Last Updated: 21/04/2023
Ripon Theatre Festival unveils expanded programme for 2023
Puppets will be popping up in some unexpected places as part of a number of new features included in Ripon Theatre Festival's expanded programme.
Organisers have added a series of pop-up mini events throughout Ripon, working with shops, cafés and city attractions to bring puppet shows and storytelling to unusual and intimate surroundings.
This includes Puppets for Breakfast at Wetherspoon's Unicorn Hotel, a suitcase puppet show The Hare and the Moon in the Cabmen’s shelter in the Market Place and the GreenHouse shop on North Street, and Beached, an immersive puppet show at Ripon Cathedral, where performers and audience members wear headphones for the experience.
St Wilfrid’s Crypt in the Cathedral will see Fell-Foss Theatre’s rolling performance of The Wanderer and expert storyteller Gav Cross will bring Twisted Tales for Terrible Children to the somewhat spooky Curzon Cinema Cellar and the Courthouse Museum.
The second Ripon Theatre Festival will take place from Wednesday, June 7 to Sunday, June 11, featuring four days and five nights crammed with performances and activity.
Drama highlights include visits from up-and-coming theatre companies performing in Ripon Arts Hub, a return visit from open-air specialists Illyria with their family show Robin Hood at Fountains Abbey, and a production of Sense and Sensibility in the garden at The Old Deanery.
The festival will also be welcoming BBC Radio 4 favourite and gentle Northern activist Kate Fox, and Liz Grand with her one-woman show Where’s Mrs Christie?.
Rhubarb Theatre's A Wonderland of Games will feature as part of the free family fun in Spa Gardens on Sunday June 11.
There are many festival events for children and families. In addition to shows at Ripon Library on Thursday and Friday , there will be street theatre, walkabout acts and pop-up performances throughout the weekend.
Circus, street theatre and community combine on Saturday at two performance zones, the Market Place and Minster Gardens (adjacent to Ripon Cathedral). Featured entertainment includes a comic escapology show from The Maniax and Dizzy O’Dare’s award-winning Giant Balloon Show.
Spa Gardens will be the focus of free family-friendly theatre and puppetry on Sunday June 11. The festival promises a “boredom-free zone” with visits from Hoglets Theatre, Rhubarb Theatre, Frolicked and Strange-Twig Theatre, alongside music and dance from community performers. A highlight of day will be performances of A La Puppet Carte when three electric tricycles open up to reveal three heart-warming puppet shows from Thingumajig Theatre.
Festival characters and performers will also visit Sunday’s Little Bird Artisan Market, adding additional colour and fun in the Market Place.
Thanks to the support of local businesses and key funders, much of the Festival is totally free to enjoy and ticketed events are low-cost.
Festival director Katie Scott said:
“We are delighted that this year we are offering many performances as 'pay what you can' events. We know that families in particular are feeling the financial crunch and this allows ticket purchasers to select their chosen amount or to opt for a free ticket. This is also a way of encouraging people to come to multiple performances by spreading their budget and trying different shows in different venues.”
The Ripon Theatre Festival programme also includes Overblown! a community-led evening of sketches and music, a premiere performance of work by local poet Ian Gouge, a musical travelogue for Sunday brunch from Steve Bonham, and Bread is Life - a lunchtime meze event where both Syrian stories and food will be shared. The festival opens on Wednesday, June 7 with dystopian comedy Happy Place at Ripon Arts Hub.
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