The eighth edition of the biennial IF: Milton Keynes International Festival returns to Milton Keynes from 18 to 27 July with an international programme of large-scale outdoor spectaculars, installations, performance, theatre, poetry, dance, circus, live music, family-friendly shows, comedy and cabaret. All in their different ways continue the Festival’s mission to engage audiences in surprising ways and add layers of meaning and memory to this new city. In the context of a world in turmoil, the Festival celebrates the power of artists to inspire, provoke and comfort.
Festival events appear in diverse locations across Milton Keynes. In central MK they include centre:mk, headline partner of the Festival, Fred Roche Gardens, Xscape, Midsummer Place, Unity Place, Festival Square and the Church of Christ the Cornerstone. Grade-II listed Campbell Park hosts Festival Central with its ever-popular Spiegeltent and the Acoustic Stage and, further into the 114-acre landscape, are events at Campbell Park Copse and MK Rose. Then, just outside the city centre, there are events located in Wolverton and on the Open University campus at Walton Hall.
With its ornate wood construction, stained glass, velvet drapes and mirrors, The Stables Spiegeltent makes an atmospheric venue for the Festival’s live music, comedy and cabaret shows. Its ticketed programme includes Lou Sanders, Lucy Spraggan, The Noise Next Door, The Selecter, Roachford (pictured below), The Demon Barbers, Le Vent du Nord, Peat & Diesel, Yuck Circus, a Cabaret of Ideas, family-friendly shows and the Ceilidh Liberation Front with the Festival wrap party.
The Festival presents two world premieres from the UK and four UK Premieres from Germany, Spain, Catalonia and France: They are: Klub Girko’s Human Time Tree Time; Deabru Beltzak’s Symfeuny; Pagrav Dance Company’s One Sky; Kamchàtka’s Fugit; Maureen Onwunali’s Utopia in Verse; and Transe Express’ DNA, Vertical Odyssey.
Both weekends of the Festival are full of FREE pop-up shows and experiences for the whole family, including a new show from Gandini Juggling, the company’s first-ever work for children. For a complete guide of what you can look forward to throughout the festival, please go to https://ifmiltonkeynes.org/
