NEWS: SIRF 2018

Image: La Tortue de Gauguin

Stockton’s International Riverside Festival returns this month, once more set to fill the Teesside town with eclectic performances and colourful capers from Thursday 2nd until Sunday 5th August.

There’s a particularly strong programme of unique performance pieces this year, with highlights including the opening performance, This Is Not For You, which pays tribute to Britain’s wounded war veterans (Thursday & Friday); Rear View, an innovative story of a women’s life conducted via open-top bus and beginning with a life-drawing class (throughout); Hunting For The Unicorn provides two unique perspectives on autism at Church Road (Friday & Saturday); also at Church Road, Pakman is a rhythmic juggling and drumming performance (Friday-Sunday); there’s more music from Ramkoers, who utilise everyday objects as their instruments at the Municipal Building Car Park (Friday & Saturday); ‘female incendiaries’ are celebrated in Periplum’s ambitious visual theatre work at Trinity Green, The Glass Ceiling, which highlights the work of activists who helped get British women the right to vote (Friday & Saturday); La Tortue de Gauguin blends painting, theatre, music and narration to explore the mysteries and ambiguities of art at Parish Gardens (Friday & Saturday); while the celebrated Southpaw Dance Company bring a reimagining of the Greek tale of Icarus to Stockton High Street (Saturday & Sunday).

Some unusual performances will top Stockton’s High Street plinth, including We Are Helium (Friday & Saturday), which blends dance, art and street theatre with live music and Candoco Dance Company present their story of female friendship, Dedicated To… (Saturday & Sunday).

For the technically minded, The Hum is an app-based experience in which a collection of voices will steer you through unusual locations, making it the perfect accompaniment to a festival filled with wonder.