One of the oldest arts festivals in England, having been established in 1772, Norfolk & Norwich Festival continues the tradition of presenting world-class international performances alongside trail blazing local artists and emerging new talent. The Festival runs until 26th May and Festival Director is pleased with the programme he has put together for this years Festival.
Artistic Director & Chief Executive, Daniel Brine said: “We’re delighted to unveil this year’s programme in full. It feels like a really vibrant and dynamic mix with a number of international voices peppering the music programme; exciting new performance pieces; some fascinating literary conversations; and a strong sense of community with a number of events that showcase our participation work. I’m really looking forward to May!”
The Adnams Spiegeltent now has a fierce reputation for staging awe-inspiring circus within the celebratory settings of Festival Gardens. This year is no different as Upswing presents Showdown (14-25 May) – a mix of circus thrills and cheeky humour as six contestants battle to the top in a fast-paced game show style competition. The picture above gives an example of what you can look forward to!
In a partnership with Norwich Theatre, Norwich Theatre Playhouse hosts Songs of the Bulbul (20 & 21 May) – a new dance work by Aakash Odedra, with choreography by Rani Khanam and music by Rushil Ranjan and Show Pony (16 & 17 May), a new show from Still Hungry and Bryony Kimmings, which brings a new perspective on women in circus.
Presented in partnership with the National Centre for Writing, The City of Literature Weekend (23-25 May) returns with a lively programme of events and talks with writers including Hattie Crisell, Nicola Dinan, Erica Hesketh, Seán Hewitt, Val McDermid (below), Noreen Masud, Nicola Streeten and many more.
Woven through the festival are a number of thematic programme stories. Under the umbrella of Magic and Mystery, The Dirty Work (14 & 15 May), is a new solo performance by Jo Bannon, blending the trickery of magic with the lived experience of visual impairment. Gandini Juggling present their new show Heka (13 & 14 May), which combines juggling, magic and contemporary choreography; and acclaimed magician Vincent Gambini’s Close-Up (16, 17, 23, 24 May) is an intimate one-to-one performance in a cafe, melding sleight-of-hand magic with the dreamlike nature of cinema.
Another strand of the programme, Coastlines celebrates our country’s diverse coast – home to communities, nature, industry and endless stories. As part of this strand, River of Hope (9 – 25 May) explores the Norfolk rivers that empty into the North Sea and brings together the work of around 500 young people in a large installation. In Cromer, on the North Norfolk Coast, Sea Like a Mirror (15-26 May) is an ambitious national partnership programme led by Cement Fields and commissioned to mark the 200th anniversary of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. At the heart of the project is White Horses, a new artwork by Ivan Morison.
The third strand of programme stories – Create and Share celebrates the Festival’s year-round work with young people, schools and communities. Highlights which have been created by artists with people from across the region includeThe Norwich Nine (11 May), an intergenerational collaboration between Bootworks Theatre Co. and a group of nine-year-old children – born the year the UK voted to leave the European Union; MONSTERS (21 May), a short film depicting a post-apocalyptic fairy tale; created by and starring children from East Anglia; and Rebel Resistors Radio Club (21-24 May) – a new project by Action Hero, in which they work with a group of girls on analogue radios, to broadcast their manifestos for the future.
The full programme for Norfolk and Norwich Festival 2025 includes many more unmissable dance, performance, music, visual arts and literature – visit nnfestival.org.uk for full listings and to filter events by genre and dates.
