The Alexandra’s (UK) Priscilla Queen of the Deaf World (Music / Theatre)
A unique all dancing, signing troupe directed by leading deaf director Jenny Sealey and featuring the creative talents of the UK’s acclaimed sign songstress Caroline Parker and two deaf drag artistes Mark Smith and Daryl Jackson. Dressed in an extravagant array of camp and colour the three performers will take the audience on a journey of love and loss and a view of the world from a deaf perspective, belting out iconic classics from Abba, Doris Day, Cher, Madonna and La Cage aux Folles in a style that only 3 deaf Queens can do.
Aqueous Humour (UK) The Revelatios (Outdoor Theatre)
Using daring divination to divulge your fatal flaws, The Revelatios will disclose your future within the intimate setting of a large, public gathering. These phonomenous people through mind power and energetics will daringly summon the occult and find your fortune within the intimacy of a public place. The Oozebogs – Meet the clueless, alien, nuclear-swamp-monster family as they explore Planet Earth. Left to their own devices and armed only with weapons of complete confusion, the directionless, excitable and oh-so-inarticulate ‘Bogs cause chaos as they fail to understand the human condition.
Artizani (UK) Desert Island Discs (Street / Theatre)
Ever imagined what it would be like to be cast away on a desert island? Paradise or purgatory? With the help of a few salvaged vinyl’s, flotsam, jetsam, coconuts and palm trees Artizani creates a tragi-comic new interpretation of the age-old myth.
Avanti Display (UK) Storm Bringer (Outdoor Theatre)
Washed ashore after a storm, sailors find themselves in Prospero’s enchanted kingdom. Prospero is the Storm Bringer. He has used his knowledge to enslave the natural spirits and to bend the elements to his will. It is his anger that precipitates the violent coming of the tempest. Avanti Display employ a combination of performance, music, song and strong visual imagery with the beautiful verses of the original text and effects of rare device to create a richly textured, poetic production. This original theatrical event fuses fire and water in a tempestuous finale that can only be performed outside.
Bongo Bolero (UK) The Penny & Bernie Show (Outdoor Theatre)
Bernie and Penny invite you to join them for their intimate outdoor cabaret, featuring their unique blend of circus, with dollops of glamour!
Carcophony (UK) (Car-Noisey-Music-Machine-Thing)
Carcophony is a spectacular-whackey-motorised-percussion-art-car-noisey-music-machine thing! Driven and played by almost human-strange-dressed-up-sort-of-odd-ball-misfit-performers with the intention that you dance your socks off!
Dot Comedy (UK) Peter and Jane Family (Outdoor Theatre)
Full of nostalgic charm, the family look as they’ve stepped from between the pages of a Ladybird book, and embrace life’s simple pleasures in a larger than life format. Peter and Jane tower over their diminutive parents, and Pat The Dog is frozen in a state of perpetual excitement at the sight of his Red Ball.
The Courgettes (a.k.a The Sneakers) (UK) (Music / Comedy / Theatre)
Three musical chefs conduct a concert of catering chaos resulting in a good meal of mayhem: Tutti Frutti, Saturday night Fish Fry, Sugar Sugar… all your favourite food songs presented with superb clowning comedy.
Full Moon Performers (UK) Calvos Dos (Juggling)
Beautiful and bizarre, Calvos Dos are strange creatures of a tranquil world who manipulate crystal balls that glide, float and dance surreally around their hands, arms and bodies.
Fuse (UK) The I Scream Van (Outdoor Theatre)
Look out for the I Scream Van, full of absurd stunts and visual effects, a pastiche of all that is amusing about B horror movies. Guaranteed to change the leisure eating habits of a generation.
Glenn Sharp (UK) (Music)
Flamenco guitarist Glenn Sharp, plays an exotic blend of flamenco and traditional Spanish guitar with passion and flair… sometimes gentle and soothing… sometimes fiery and brutal.
Helen Kane (UK) Frankie Chalet (Music)
Welcome to the world of Frankie Chalet – where everything can be just a little bit French! Hear the music of that most Romantic of capital cities and think of croissants, fine wines, lap dogs and strong cheese – as the charming and winsome Frankie Chalet brings a little bit of the continent chez vous, playing musette waltzes and chansons from the golden era of Parisian chic on her beloved accordion.
Passionate, atmospheric and very, very French – if you listen long enough, you may just fall in love.
La Sonambula (Catalunya) La Muerte es Mentira (Music / Performance)
A beautiful and moving piece that takes place behind a screen… illuminated shadows, in black and white as well as colour, trace the life and loves of a flamenco dancer; an audiovisual musical journey, exquisitely performed by Monica Quintana.
Les Fleur du Mal (UK) Schaeferstuendchen (Music / Theatre)
in faux real flowers sweetly sing traditional German songs about busy shepherdesses, clear blue mornings, babbling brooks and love-sick violets. Devil and Angel (Music / Theatre) A devil and an angel holding the four elements in their hands. One fighting for life, for nature, for humanity. The other striving for the opposite. They sing passionately, dramatically, harmonically inspired by classical pieces improvising about the ambivalence of humans destiny.
Mimbre (UK) The Bridge (Acrobatics / Performance)
Clinging between past and future, the bridge has been destroyed and rebuilt again a thousand times. One woman needs to cross it; another has come to claim it; but a third woman stands in their way – and will defend it, no matter what. With humour, daring and exceptional physicality �The Bridge’ reverberates with our battle to defend our place in the world, whilst trying not to destroy it… again…
Motionhouse (UK) Chaser (Dance Theatre / Music)
�A love triangle with a difference� – Performed on a specially constructed piece of set, by three fantastic dancers from the main Motionhouse touring company. Chaser is an attention-grabbing short, sharp injection of contemporary dance about relationships and the time spent in bars an nightclubs. A high energy, awe inspiring show with catchy music; emotive dance theatre for an eclectic audience.
Nakupelle (UK) Monkey Business (Outdoor Theatre)
Italo wants to make some money. He’s got lots of ideas, a pocketful of tutti-frutti and an antique street organ. What he doesn’t have is a cooperative monkey. Will she play? Will she dance? Will this monkey ever get funky?
Orkestra del Sol (UK) (Music)
Orkestra del Sol’s riotous carnival brass music, combined with slapstick antics and crowd participation leaves a memorable impression. Their brand new show directed by Mikey Martinez is no exception.
Pete Moser (UK) The Fastest One Man Band in the World (Music)
Ever been serenaded by an orchestra that moves… And dances… Watch out for the fastest one-man band in the world.. In his many disguises… Music to your ears and eyes…
Pickled Image (UK) Bernard’s Puppet Bonanza (Outdoor Theatre)
Despite being past his prime and old enough to know better, Bernard pulls out all the stops to dazzle, delight and dumbfound you with his unique rendition of an ol’ time puppet show. Carrying on regardless of technical disasters and backstage mayhem, Bernard hysterically steers the whole event towards a combustible climax.
Pif Paf (UK) Fantastic Animal Troupe (Outdoor Theatre)
Welcome to the world’s finest (and only) exhibition of Living Specimens of Extinct Species! Our three wildly experienced handlers will bring you hair-raisingly close to a world otherwise lost.
Plunge! Boom! (UK) The Vegetable Nannies (Comedy)
Wheeling an ancient Victorian Pram laden with a prize collection of earthen toddlers, the Vegetable Nannies are out for the day, showing off their allotment cherubs & telling many a tale like every proud parent would. The Microscopic Animal Enthusiasts (genre) A cross between Indiana Jones & David Bellamy, these animal lovers are on a mission of miniature proportions. Hauling a trolley of Microscopic specimens and sporting many a magnifying glass come see the Mancunian Pavement Weevil, the Lumblut Chiddler & even the Gargantuan Snazztackler!
Ragroof (UK) Shall we Dance (Theatre / Dance)
As the band strikes up and the glitter-ball twirls, the bandstand is brought to life by glamorous dancing couples from the roaring twenties through to the thrifty fifties. Shall We Dance is inspired by the memories of older people about dance and their dance partners, and transports the audience back to a time when the intricate rituals of courtship were played out on the dance floors of village halls and grand ballrooms alike.
Ramshacklicious (UK) The Road To Nowhere (Outdoor Performance)
Nana and her three grandsons travel the world in search of the perfect wives. Nobody knows how long they’ve been travelling, not even them. Dragging all their possessions along with them, including Nana’s rather redundant coffin, dressed in dishevelled wedding apparel, their quest has become a sideshow of serenades. Nana refuses to die until she can be sure that her family name will live on. Perhaps nobody will ever be good enough for Nana’s boys.
Reckless Invention (UK) Break (Comic Walkabout)
Turbo takes to the lino in a desperate attempt to perfect his windmill. It’s deadly serious. It’s gang against gang. One bad head spin and you’re dust fool. F-F-F-FRESHHHHHH!
Sleepy Ed Hicks (UK) (Music)
Surreal and subversive Sleepy Ed Hicks is an itinerant banjo player for the 21st century. He draws deeply from his knowledge of songs and tradition to subvert the ancient into the modern or strip a contemporary pop song back to its imagined roots.
Space Cadets (UK) Lilies on the Lake (Installations)
The Light Lillies are beautiful inflatable exotic flowers, created by spacecadets to float on water or to be suspended in trees.
Sparky the Robot (UK) (Outdoor Theatre)
A startling radio-controlled robot with a huge variety of animated actions and a built in cascade of colourful illuminations. Sparky is created entirely out of recycled materials and some familiar household objects.
Stickleback Plasticus (UK) St Joan’s Ambulance (Comic Walkabout)
�Accident prone and ready to serve� Joan and John, having failed the most basic of first aid courses, have set forth with crates of crepe bandage and piles of plasters. But this cumbersome duo trip, fall and blaze a trail of self-destruction, turning the smallest obstacle into a mountain of trouble. Whether stuck under the wheel of a car or a rubbish bin they will attempt to save people from the hazards of everyday life.
Strangelings (UK) Tandem (Acrobatics / Performance)
Two men, two wheels and some unfeasibly long shoes. Strangelings have stripped it down to the bare essentials. Daredevil trick cycling achingly beautiful acrobalance and a never before attempted escape finale. Contains scenes of middle- aged semi nudity.
Swank (UK) The Green Fingered Gals (Walkabout)
Watering the weedy, pruning the needy, encouraging all to grow tall, these girls will keep all in herbaceous order!
Theatre of Adventure (UK) Random Acts of Jazz (Music / Theatre)
You never know when or where the Jazz Juju duo will get ya – turning ordinary life into a comedy musical! Utterly, absolutely and downright portable – creating anarchy with air trombone solos – serenading people as they walk along the street – crooning to the supermarket queue – greeting the new arrivals with romantic song. They don’t write them like they used too.
The Curious Eyebrows (UK) Leg Before Wicket (Comedy / Walkabout)
Two commentators provide a source of none stop hilarious banter and expert analysis on any and all subjects under the sun! From watching paint dry to grass grow. Two men – One mission – To illuminate the mundane. Howzat!
The Krape Twins (UK) (Music)
Swing and swoon as The Krape Twins provide music, mayhem & merriment on the move. You request, they play it: Jazz, Irish, Rock n’ Roll – but beware – you may end up doing a Doris Day impersonation in front of your friends!
The Wandering Arms (UK) (Outdoor Installation)
The Wandering Arms is a bar…? in the street…?? on wheels you say!?? Enter The Wandering Arms and enjoy the company, the atmosphere and the banter… But remember – you’re the host!!!
Village Disco (UK) (Music / Comedy / Theatre)
Village Disco, the small but perfectly formed mobile 12 volt sound system, flashing lights, strobe and mirror ball. Plays crafty cuts of classic tunes, old and new that touch your heartstrings and make you giggle, as memories flood back of your first disco fiasco. Fancy footwork, competitions with prizes, requests and dedications.
Wired Aerial Theatre (UK) Glimpse (Aerial / Dance / Theatre)
To be performed at Victoria Baths Wired Aerial Theatre perform a unique fusion of charged dance theatre with highly original aerial bungee skills. For X. trax Wired present �Glimpse’ in the beautiful and atmospheric setting of Victoria Baths, Manchester’s historic Water Palace and winner of BBC2′s Restoration series.
Zig Duo (UK) (Music)
With passion and energy the daring duo take their audience on a thrilling and emotional musical voyage of discovery through Eastern Europe and the Balkans.