21st Greenwich+Docklands International Festival Sets Full Programme

In 2016, Greenwich+Docklands International Festival (GDIF), London's largest and most ambitious festival of outdoor arts, presents a 21st birthday programme, including 6 World Premieres, 5 UK Premieres and 12 London Premieres. Presented as part of Royal Greenwich Festivals, the programme will include:• 3 large scale productions: The House, a spectacular fusion of dance, film and pyrotechnics to mark the 400th anniversary of The Queen's House; Silence, a new outdoor theatre production created by the renowned Polish company Teatr Biuro Podró?y; and The Clash of Drums by Les Commandos Percus & Deabru Beltzak, an explosive fusion of percussion and fireworks

• A European-style outpouring of street theatre in a traffic-free Greenwich Town Centre with the Greenwich Fair

• A monumental installation, The People Build assembled from cardboard boxes and human power at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

• Five days of adventurous outdoor children's theatre and dance with Moat Island at Well Hall Pleasaunce in Eltham

• Dancing City, a two day programme of outdoor dance across the parks and piazzas of Canary Wharf

• Street theatre at its most ingenious with Ignite! in Woolwich Town Centre, with a herd of mechanical animals, the opening of a strange portal from another world and a dance performance on a 13 tonne digger

Bradley Hemmings MBE, Artistic Director of GDIF said: "Over the Festival's lifetime, there's been a revolution in our national appetite for outdoor cultural experiences and GDIF has played a proud part in this story, building from a local festival to one of the most influential festivals of outdoor arts in Europe. I'm thrilled to see the Festival come of age in 2016 with more venues and sites than in any previous year"

Highlights of GDIF 2016 include:

THE HOUSE

Fri 24 June 10pm

Presented in association with Royal Museums Greenwich

Tickets £15 (£12 concessions)
Reserved seating (on sale from 3 May) at www.festival.org
Substantial FREE promenade (standing) places available on the day.

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, SE10

GDIF's opening event is a specially commissioned spectacular marking the 400th anniversary of The Queen's House and its forthcoming re-opening this year. A mythic contemplation of the rise and fall of civilisations, inspired by Britain's first classical building and its architect Inigo Jones, the production brings together video projections by BAFTA Award-winning Tal Rosner, ground-breaking contemporary hip hop from Avant Garde Dance, music by Novello Award winning composer Dan Jones, performance and pyrotechnics from the German outdoor theatre company Pan.Optikum, with narration featuring Olivier award-winning Sharon D Clarke. (Presented as part of the London Festival of Architecture 2016)

GREENWICH FAIR

Sat 25 June 1 - 9.30pm?

Sun 26 June 12 - 7pm FREE

Greenwich Town Centre, Cutty Sark Gardens, Old Royal Naval College, SE10

GDIF's annual 'festival within a festival' spills out on to the streets of a car-free Greenwich making it bigger than ever. The largest and most intensive programme of street arts in the capital, with over 21 productions include circus, theatre, dance, street games, cabaret, live art and mass participation.

Shows include Campervan of Love from award-winning New Art Club. This funny, musical, dancing adventure for all the family takes place in and around a bright pink vintage VW campervan. Other highlights include Block, a new collaboration from NoFit State Circus and Motionhouse Dance; Ye Gods, in which an apocalypse is unleashed across the houses and streets of a model village, courtesy of Whalley Range All Stars; an ingenious mechanical dance between a robotic machine and a percussionist from Germany's Ulik; and a revealing 21st century morality play entitled Peregrinus from the Polish theatre company KTO. The streets of Greenwich will also provide the stage for some moments of mass participation with the opportunity to join in a step by step recreation of the audition scene from A Chorus Line in Audition Project, led by Miss High Leg Kick (leg warmers optional), and Ida Barr will be creating her very own block party with live mixing, cockney singalong and a mass participation Hokey Cokey.

The full line up is at www.festival.org

THE PEOPLE BUILD

Tues 21 - Fri 24 June (workshops), Sat 25 June (on site construction), various times, FREE

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford, E20

As the foundations of a new cultural district, "Olympicopolis", start to be laid, you are invited to take part in a spectacular architectural event devised by the French artist Olivier Grossetête. Over several days, hundreds of cardboard boxes will be crafted into the building blocks of a democratically assembled building, built solely through human power and collective endeavour. On the final day, you can watch in amazement - and lend a hand - as extraordinary new buildings rise from the ground.

Part of the Foundation for FutureLondon's Olympicopolis Season

(Presented as part of the London Festival of Architecture 2016).

SILENCE

Thur 30 June & Fri 1 July 10pm

Tickets £7
Reserved seating (on sale from 3 May) at www.festival.org
Substantial FREE promenade (standing) and some bench seating available on the day.

Bethnal Green Gardens, Tower Hamlets E2 9PA

Polish company Teatr Biuro Podró?y present the world premiere of Silence. Physical theatre, stilts, fire, unusual staging, puppetry and music tell a story of refugees and migrants caught up in a spiral of war, fences and the dream of escape. This production has been co-commisioned by GDIF, Freedom Festival and Hull UK City of Culture 2017 as a sequel to Teatr Biuro Podró?y's legendary production Carmen Funebre.

MOAT ISLAND

Mon 27 June - Fri 1 July 4 - 7pm FREE

Well Hall Pleasaunce, Eltham, SE9

Presented in association with Greenwich Dance

Moat Island provides the setting for a daily outdoor arts adventure for intrepid under 12s, a site which was once the former home of E Nesbit, author of The Railway Children. Featuring an after-school programme of dance, theatre, puppetry, workshops and games, highlights include a series of interactive automata from the Catalan company Tombs Creatius, dance on an inflatable bouncy castle from Darren Ellis Dance and workshops and performances from Plunge Boom created by Ben Faulks, aka CBeebies' Mr Bloom. The full programme is at www.festival.org

DANCING CITY

Fri 1 July 1pm & 5.30pm, Sat 2 July 1 - 5pm FREE

Canary Wharf, Tower Hamlets, E14

A journey across the parks and piazzas of Canary Wharf with GDIF's now legendary annual outdoor dance extravaganza.This year's programme features the London premiere of You and I Know, a new duet from Candoco Dance Company, choreographed by award winning choreographer and theatre director Arlene Phillips. Other highlights include In My Head from Beeldend Danstheater Telder (Netherlands), a multidisciplinary visual dance performance combined with art and music that takes place in a 5 metre high three dimensional sculpture of a head, through and around which performers climb and dance; SLICE, a new production from the acclaimed Wired Aerial Theatre choreographed by Sharon Watson (Phoenix Dance); H.O.H from Far From The Norm, who combine hip hop and contemporary dance in a thrilling exploration of football in multi-cultural Britain; and Phone Box by Corey Baker Dance, an energetic and vibrant outdoor production featuring an iconic vintage red telephone box.

The full programme is at www.festival.org

IGNITE!

Sat 2 July 3 - 9pm

Royal Arsenal and Woolwich Town Centre SE18

This street arts programme takes inspiration from Woolwich's manufacturing and industrial past, whilst looking towards new cultural ambitions with an array of ingenious events, including a herd of mechanical animals occupying a park, rotating musicians taking to the streets and an astonishing performance on a 13 tonne digger. A major highlight will be the London premiere of acclaimed physical theatre company Tangled Feet's new installation performance piece Emerge/ncy.

THE CLASH OF DRUMS BY LES COMMANDOS PERCU AND DEABRU BELTZAK

Sat 2 July 10pm (finale) Pre-show from 9pm FREE

Royal Artillery Barracks,Woolwich, SE18

GDIF's afternoon Ignite! programme is followed by this year's spectacular finale - a fusion of percussion and awesome fireworks from the French company Les Commandos Percu and the Spanish street theatre group Deabru Beltzak. Out of nowhere drummers march towards each other in a wild parade which culminates in a theatrically staged fusion of percussion and pyrotechnics. This production will tour to Luton, Leicester, Hull, Doncaster and Liverpool as part of GDIF's pioneering Global Streets national touring initiative supported by Arts Council England.

Councillor Denise Scott-McDonald, Royal Borough of Greenwich Cabinet Member for Culture, Creative Industries and Community Wellbeing, said:

"This summer, residents and visitors can look forward to watching - and participating in - a fantastic array of events during the Royal Greenwich Festivals. I'm delighted that once again Greenwich+Docklands International Festival will form a central part of those celebrations and I congratulate GDIF on their 21st anniversary."

To post a comment, you must register and login.