With 50 performances taking place in 20 city locations across four days and five nights, Ripon Theatre Festival is back with a bang!
Make sure Wednesday 7 to Sunday 11 June is in your diary.
For families, there is a huge amount to see, from free street entertainment, pay what you can pop-up performances, to ticketed shows by award-winning theatre companies. In addition to delightful shows at Ripon Library on Thursday and Friday, there will be two entertainment zones on Saturday – the Market Place and Minster Gardens – bringing our very own fantastic pop-up community acts, as well as circus and street theatre including comic escapology show from The Maniax and Dizzy O’Dare’s award-winning Giant Balloon Show.
Ripon Spa Gardens will be a ‘boredom-free zone’ on the Sunday with visits from some amazing family friendly theatre companies, alongside music and dance from our community performers. A highlight of the day will be performances from A La Puppet Carte when three electric tricycles open to reveal three heartwarming puppet shows from Thingumajig Theatre.
The festival has added a series of pop-up mini events throughout the city, working with shops, cafés and city attractions to bring unique puppet shows and storytelling to unusual and intimate surroundings. Expert storyteller Gav Cross will bring his Twisted Tales for Terrible Children to the slightly spooky Curzon Cinima Cellar and the Courthouse Museum. Puppets for Breakfast will be at Wetherspoons and The Hare and the Moon will be in the Cabman’s Shelter in Market Place.
The festival for families finale will be a return visit from open-air theatre specialists Illyria with their action-packed heist, Robin Hood in the beautiful grounds of Fountains Abbey. Pack a picnic and cheer on the underdogs for an unforgettable evening of theatre.
If parents would like a night out with no children, then come and see Overblown! on Saturday at Ripon Arts Hub, a cheeky community led evening of sketches and music. Or if sophistication is your thing, you’re cordially invited to see Sense and Sensibility at the Old Deanery on Thursday evening. Picnic hampers and finery encouraged!
This is a snapshot of what’s in store. Find the full guide to all the events at www.ripontheatrefestival.org and keep up to date via Facebook @ripontheatrefestival or Instagram @ripon_theatre_fest
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