Described by Charles Dickens in his collection of London scenes “Sketches by Boz”, the nineteenth century Greenwich Fair was an uproarious event comprising travelling menageries, dancing booths, puppet shows, melodramatic theatrical performances and much more besides.
In GDIF’s 21st century version, the Greenwich Fair will become a world-class 3-day showcase of UK and international outdoor theatre and performance, taking place in Greenwich Town Centre, a world heritage site. The Greenwich Fair showcase will include seminars, professional meetings, a reception and a Marketplace of stalls promoting artists, companies, arts organisations and industry bodies.
Highlights include
– International performances from amongst others: Studio Orka (Belgium), Company SJ (Ireland), De Stilje Want (Netherlands) and Papelito Puppet Theatre (Slovenia)
– New outdoor shows from leading UK artists: Plunge Boom, Avant Garde Dance, Gandini, Emergency Exit Arts, Rachel Henson and Tangled Feet
– Work by culturally diverse & Deaf and disabled artists: Graeae Theatre Company, Marc Brew Company, Cirque Nova and Company Chameleon
– New British commissions presented in association with UK Street Arts consortium Without Walls: Wired Aerial Theatre, Whalley Range All Stars and a Candoco, Scarabeus and Nicky Singer production
– Gravity, a programme of performances and installation co-curated between GDIF and Fira Tarrega (Spain)
Greenwich Fair programme
The Greenwich Fair features over 30 UK and international artists which include:
Graeae Theatre Company, Studio Orka, Whalley Range All Stars, Tangled Feet, Vocal Motions Elastic Theatre, Company SJ, Rachel Henson, Gandini, Marc Brew Company, Avant Garde Dance, Red Herring, Nutkhut, Emergency Exit Arts, Helen Clyro, Cirque Nova, Protein Dance, Candoco Dance Company/Scarabeus/Nicky Singer, Beautiful Creatures, Dizzy O’Dare, Plunge Boom, Rhinestone Rollers, Impossible, De Stijle Want, Papelito and more to be confirmed…
Gravity, Friday 24th June
A collaboration between Greenwich+Docklands International Festival and FiraTarrega (Spain)Gravity will bring together 4 artists from the UK with 5 artists from Catalonia who will create and present new work as part of a unique exchange programme. Gravity will be shown first at the Greenwich Fair before being presented in September in FiraTarrega, Europe’s largest outdoor performance showcase. Featured companies include Max Calaf, Res de Res with Circo Dux, Guixot de 8, Llorenc Corbella and Fet a Ma from Catalonia, and Company Chameleon, Acrojou, Company FZ, Up and Over it form UK.
Greenwich Fair Market Place
Greenwich Dance Agency, London
10am-1pm, Friday 24th June 2011
Market Place is presented in association with ISAN
Visit the Market Place to network face to face with over 50 different outdoor artists, performing companies, producers and arts organisations, from across the UK and beyond. Delegates will be given a booklet including a synopsis of each company and their contact information. The event will also feature an informal buffet lunch and a special screening of ISAN?s Great Outdoors film.
Exhibitors include: Architects of Air, Arte Latino Cultural Project, Bicycle Ballet, Bright Shadow Performance Company, Bui Bolg, Bureau Of Silly Ideas, Cirq’ulation Locale, Company Chameleon, DaDa – Disability and Deaf Arts, Desperate Men, East London Dance, Emergency Exit Arts, Epic Arts, Faceless Company, Fet a ma, Fittings Multimedia Arts, Fools Paradise, Frolicked, Gandini Juggling, Graeae Theatre Company, Iron Oxide, ISAN, Joanna Peacock, Julie’s Bicycle, Kinetica Bloco, Lightening Ensemble, London Culture Festival, Los Kaos, Marc Brew, Mischief La Bas, National Association of Street Artists (NASA), Natural Theatre Company, Neighbourhood Watch Stilts International, Nutkhut, Quture, Ragroof Theatre, Remarkable Productions, Red Herring, Scarabeus, Simon McKeown, Small World Theatre, Sophie Stuff, Spike Theatre, StopGAP Dance Company. Strong Lady Production, Tangled Feet, The World Famous, Time Won’t Wait, Upswing, Vocal Motions Elastic Theatre, Walk the Plank, Wired Aerial Theatre, Without Walls.
Provocations
Seminars, Discussions and Networking
In addition to an exciting performance programme, Greenwich Fair offers delegates exclusive access to discussions and provocations exploring themes important to the outdoor arts, as well as opportunities for formal and informal networking.
Friday 24 June
Outdoor Arts in a World Heritage Site
16.00 – 17.00
Festival Centre Marquee
Chaired by Margaret Sheehy, this discussion panel will feature local historian Horatio Blood
introducing the history of the Greenwich Fair; Pascale Straiton, director of “That’s the Way To Do It!?” on the Punch tradition; Renzo Barsotti, Artistic Director of Centro de Cria o para o Teatro e Artes de Rua (Sta. Maria da Feira – Portugal) discussing “Territory and Cultural Legacies”.
Gravity Reception
Reception 17.00 – performances start at 18.00
Festival Centre Marquee
Following a welcome from Cllr John Fahy, Cabinet Member for Culture and the Olympics,
(Greenwich Council), Jordi Duran (FiraTarrega) and Bradley Hemmings will introduce Gravity, a new transnational collaboration featuring UK and Catalan artists. Recollecting Greenwich’s 19th century tradition of hill rolling in the Park, GDIF has joined forces with FiraTarrega, one of Europe’s leading outdoor arts festivals to create a promenade programme of dance, physical theatre, circus and installation, all inspired by the force of gravity. The same programme will also be shown in FiraTarrega in September 2011.
Artists featured are Acrojou, Max Calaf, Company Chameleon, Company FZ, Llorenc Corbella, Fet a Ma, Guixot de 8, Res de Res/Circo Dux and Up and Over It.
Saturday 25 June
Political Theatre on the Street
10.00 – 11.00
Festival Centre Marquee From public protests to outdoor installations, how do artists use the backdrop of the street as a vehicle for political expression? A provocation featuring Kat Joyce, Jenny Sealey (Graeae), Nathan Curry (tangled feet), Claire Raftery and Damian Wright (Periplum), chaired by Bradley Hemmings.
Outdoor Dance 11.00 – 12.00 Festival Centre Marquee GDIF is known for innovative outdoor dance programming and is delighted to be working with GDA on its Greenwich Dances programme this year. This panel brings together artists to explore the evolution of dance and outdoor spaces; Brendan Keaney chairs with Rosemary Lee, Simmy Gupta, Luca Silvestrini and Marc Brew.
Sunday 26 June
Meet the Artists
11.00 – 13.00
Festival Centre Marquee
Join GDIF artists for coffee and an informal networking session to round off Greenwich Fair.
