Royal Greenwich Festivals Presents Greenwich+Docklands International Festival, 20-28 June

From the top of Greenwich Park Hill you can look out on one of most spectacular views of the capital - a city of ingenuity, creativity and resourcefulness.

With this inspiration, GDIF 2014 invites you to experience familiar streets and public spaces as they're transformed by over 50 outdoor events from leading UK and International artists - from gravity-defying aerial choreography to global stories of war and peace; encounters between the living and the dead and a house turned inside out; from a pop-up desert island to a flying ship of dreams. This summer at GDIF the magic of outdoor theatre shows the world in a different light, urging audiences to look at the world anew.

Highlights include:

Muare? Presented by Voala?
This large scale spectacular creates a psychedelic world in which aerialists descend from giant revolving "optical art" mobiles accompanied by electrifying live music from Duchamp Pilot. Suspended 30 metres above the audience, 13 performers from the Spanish/ Argentinean company Voala? create incredible patterning over the heads of audiences accompanied by breathtaking special effects.
* Fri 20 June, 10pm, National Maritime Museum, Royal Museums Greenwich, SE10 FREE

Safe House Presented by Metro Boulot Dodo and Wired Aerial Theatre
Gravity-defying aerial performance mixed with stunning large scale projections uncovers the secrets of a house like no other. Acrobatic performers scale the walls and dive from the roof of a larger than life house in an exploration of our obsession with home ownership. The creative team behind As The World Tipped combine with award winning Metro Boulot Dodo to create a poetic journey through rooms, memories and characters.
* Sat 21 June, 10pm, Haverfield Green, Mile End Park, Tower Hamlets, E3 FREE

Greenwich Fair

An intensive three day showcase of free outdoor theatre, dance and games featuring 26 UK and international companies. Highlights include:

Full Stop from Light the Fuse (UK), which takes you through an anarchic, action-packed 24 hours at a very unusual bus stop

Laundry XL which will transform the Old Royal Naval College with 50 white bedsheets and a cast of six performers from Directie and Co. (Netherlands)

(i)Land from Marc Brew Dance Company (UK), a story of the struggle for survival of three people stranded on a desert island

Opus II from Fanfare Le Snob (France), in which an ensemble of musicians perform as they glide in swan-like formation on hidden electrical segways beneath their costumes

C.A.P.E. (Computer Animated Personal Environment) from Crew (Belgium). Audiences in technologically ground breaking masks and headphones experience an omnidirectional video and sound immersive journey into another time and place.

Fri 20 June - Sun 23 June, Old Royal Naval College & Cutty Sark Gardens, Greenwich, SE10 FREE

War Correspondents Presented by Helen Chadwick Song Theatre
Created by composer Helen Chadwick and choreographer Steven Hoggett (Oliver award winner for Black Watch), this powerful fusion of testimony, music and physicality uncovers the stories and life-changing experiences of war journalists - men and women who risk their lives in extreme circumstances.
Fri 20 & Sat 21 June 8pm, Sun 22 June 3.30pm, Skittle Alley, Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, SE10 FREE - booking required via www.festival.org

Deblozay Presented by Rara Woulib
Haitian culture looks at death in a very different way to our own. It is not a hushed-up affair of coffins and closed doors but a loud celebration of all that life has to offer, in this world and the next. As the sun sets, join French company Rara Woulib in conjuring the ghosts of the city's departed for this joyous pilgrimage. See for yourself why the dead have so much more fun than the living. (This production is co-produced by GDIF, LIFT and David Binder Productions)

Fri 20 & Sat 21 June, 9.10pm, Location to be announced. FREE - booking required via www.festival.org

Street Theatre Doublebill at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

The Legend of Hamba Presented by Tiata Fahodzi
Kadogo, Child Soldier Presented by La Patrio?tico Interesante
This outdoor theatre double-bill takes the Festival to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for the first time as part of a new GDIF commitment to presenting thought-provoking and compelling contemporary outdoor theatre telling globally resonant stories. The Legend
of Hamba takes its inspiration from the Ndebele word meaning, 'Walk!' or 'Let's go!' It's
a contemporary African Everyman play created by Tiata Fahodzi, Britain's leading African Theatre Company. It's followed by the UK premiere from leading Chilean street theatre company La Patrio?tico Interesante of Kadogo, Child Soldier, offering a polemical insight into the tragedy of child soldiering which combines heartfelt performances, live music, ingenious staging and fire effects.
The Legend of Hamba, Monday 23 - Thursday 26 June, 8.30pm
Kadogo, Child Soldier, Monday 23 - Friday 27 June, 9.30pm
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford, E20
FREE - booking required via www.festival.org

Dancing City

14 UK and international companies dance outdoors against the dramatic backdrop of Canary Wharf. Dance forms range across ballet, street dance, contemporary, circus and technological adventures. Highlights include
¿Hasta Donde...? from an acclaimed young company led by Sharon Fridman (Spain/ Israel) a poetically intense duet delivering powerful emotional impact.

La Mirada Interior from Producciones Imperdibles (Spain) in which headphone wearing audiences choose between 3 very different musical scores accompanying the same choreography.
Two of a Kind presented by Ballet Black, a new quartet choreographed by Christopher Marney about changing relationships.

Por Casualidad about strangers falling in love and never meeting again, by two bailaores, Marco Vargas and Chloe? Brule?, masters of flamenco.
Mon 23 - 27 June, 12pm & 1:30pm, Sat 28 June, 1 - 5pm, Canary Wharf,
Tower Hamlets, E14, FREE

Arka Presented by Teatr O?smego Dnia

Polish theatre company Teatr O?smego Dnia recalls all those refugees and displaced people who travel the continents and warm their souls with memories of home.
As conflict destroys domestic peace a huge winged ship sets sail accompanied by thrilling fire effects and haunting Balkan wedding music to tell a powerful story of the scattering of communities in war. Arka will take place in Woolwich on the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo, the event that rapidly escalated into
the outbreak of the first world war in 2014, providing a timely reminder of the fragility
of peace.
Sat 28 June, 10pm, Royal Artillery Square, Woolwich, SE18, FREE