Leicester's City Festival to Host Nofit State Circus, Australia's Polyglot Theatre Company
Since its launch in 2013 Leicester's City Festival has grown into an 11-day spectacular, with much of the activity taking place in Leicester's pedestrianised streets and open spaces. The packed programme of events gets under way on Friday 21 August and continues until the Bank Holiday (Monday 31 August).
One of the highlights of the festival this year is NoFit State who bring their interactive, ever-evolving large-scale circus installation Open House to Humberstone Gate on the 22 & 23 August. Open House is a space where anything can happen and everything becomes an excuse for performance and spectacle.
Flowing through the town, setting up in a city square, unfolding washing lines, flags, umbrellas and piles of bric-a-brac, there is no big top but a colony of musicians, acrobats and aerialists exploding out of caravans - a joyous menagerie of circus chaos setting the town alive. Passers-by become spectators and communities become spectacle.
All the way from Australia, street arts company Polyglot bring Tangle to Jubilee Square on the 24, 25 & 25 August. Tangle is a large scale, totally interactive elastic weaving event, created live and on the spot by children and their families. It's part spectacular live art, part performance, part playground and all chaos. Strand by strand a dense multi-coloured landscape is created where you can explore, play and bounce!
Also new for 2015 are the extraordinary creations of award-winning Leicester based sand sculptor Nicola Wood, who will be working on a number of Richard III-inspired sculptures throughout the festival, and a Summer Arts Trail that will celebrate art, film, photography and music in the city. With a nod to the forthcoming Rugby World Cup, Flavours of Rugby in Victoria Park on 30 August is a family-oriented event that will showcase lots of ways to get involved in the sport.
Back by popular demand is the Old Town Festival - featuring the Old Town Food Fair on Bank Holiday Monday - and Sky Ride (30 August), when city centre streets will become a 5km traffic-free route for cyclists of all ages.
Details of all the events can be found at www.visitleicester.info/cityfestival
The City Festival is funded by Leicester City Council with elements of the programme supported by Arts Council England, Heritage Lottery Fund and other funding organisations and partners.
Tangle is presented as part of an Arts Council England funded Strategic Touring programme, in partnership with Birmingham Hippodrome; Cast; Creative Barking and Dagenham; Freedom Festival; Greenwich+Docklands International Festival; Leicester City Council; Luton Culture on Behalf of Luton Creates and Watermans.
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