BREAKING with tradition, Stockton International Riverside Festival is taking the extraordinary step to invite back Avanti Display to present a ‘Greatest Hits’ showcase due to their huge popularity.
Avanti Display, one of the UK’s longest establishment outdoor performance companies, specialise in producing highly original and individual performances which combine gentle humour, surrealism and ingenious mechanisms and effects.
Crafted over the last 20 years and honed by performances across the globe, they’ll bring the following shows to Stockton this summer:
- Mystic Monty’s amazing fortune telling machine will return to Stockton High Street on Friday 5 August, Saturday 6 August and Sunday 7 August. Audiences will be treated to some truly unbelievable sleight of hand tricks and some lucky people will leave with an individual prediction card and a new respect for the science of nonsense!
- Fountain Machine will also be found on the High Street across the weekend as a performance of Northern charm is cannily woven around a clanking, pedal-powered mechanical fountain with lots of chatting, improvising and surprises.
- LEAK will spring up on the High Street on Friday 5 August and Saturday 6 August as the Hydrocon team get back together to tackle strange phenomena in Stockton caused by high water pressure interfering with power and internet cables!
- Mr Lucky’s Party takes place on Saturday 6 August on the High Street as a tea party with a difference takes a bizarre, spectacular and unexpected twist as the mood darkens with every turn of the weather.
- The Spurting Man visits the High Street on Sunday 7 August and acts as the Avanti finale (8pm showing) as the pompous character shows off his tricks while his assistant is given no credit for the role he plays – laying the foundations for a series of comic interactions.
The 29TH edition of Stockton International Riverside Festival rolls into town between Thursday 4 and Sunday 7 Augustand there are plenty of other spectacular highlights on offer not to be missed.
Councillor Norma Wilburn, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Arts, Leisure and Culture, said: “There are simply so many premieres and international performances on offer at SIRF16 that is hard to truly do justice to the range of amazing experiences that will be coming shortly to Stockton.
“I would encourage anyone interested to pick up a SIRF programme from their local library, the Rediscover Shop on Stockton High Street or to visit the website and find out more about everything that is going on at this year’s festival. There’s something for all ages and all members of the family so I hope that residents and visitors from further afield will continue to visit Stockton, support SIRF and enjoy a marvellous experience together.”
Other highlights include Rimski’s Bicycle Piano, on Friday 5 August and Saturday 6 August, which brings original songs, musical clowning, acrobatics and the occasional pyrotechnics to the High Street. Master multi-tasker Rimski plays and sings as he cycles along on his piano and is always full of surprises.
Masquerade, by Yello Brick, plays on Saturday 6 August and Sunday 7 August on the High Street. This fun game sees participants receive instructions through their phone from the mysterious hosts. The Masquerade Ball is a world of anonymity and deceit where you must carry out tasks, form bonds, break relationships, hide secrets and be ruthless in your pursuit of glory. Each performance has a limited capacity of 60 people – free tickets will be available each day from SIRF Central.
The Orgareve and Happy Clouds, by Theatre De La Toupine, arrives at Church Road on Saturday 6 August and Sunday 7 August. This amazing mechanical carousel, powered by an authentic 1929 Citroen C3 car, whisks audiences away on an imaginative journey above the clouds aboard this wonderful dream machine.
For more information about SIRF16 and to view the full programme including dates and times, visit www.sirf.co.uk