After an absence of two years, Newport Live and The Riverfront’s Big Splash family street theatre festival returns to the city streets with a bang this summer on Saturday 23 & Sunday 24 July with a jam-packed programme celebrating favourite acts from past festivals as well as some brand-new surprises, which are being added to all the time.
This year promises to be an outstanding line-up and a jam-packed event, with a vast array of amazing acts in store.
Big Splash will once again provide something for everyone with street theatre, comedy, busking, community performances, workshops and arts and craft activities, all especially chosen to entertain, amaze, amuse and bring together the people of Newport, and hopefully encourage people to the area, too!
We all need to get back that feeling of community and celebration, after a long hiatus thanks to the pandemic. This year, the festival is proud to be including acts which are local to the Newport community, giving local people (particularly children) the chance to showcase their talents to the city! One such example is Newport’s very own Defying Gravity Academy. Based in Langland Park West, in Newport. Children as young as 3, right up to teenagers will be performing fun, family friendly entertainment in a range of styles from jazz and lyrical, to cheerleading and tumbling routines!
G-Expressions will be dancing in the streets at this years Big Splash 2022
“Urban School of Art” follows the journey of a group of young people who attend a performing arts school to chase their dreams whilst overcoming obstacles, and you’ll get to see some of the cast perform sketches, songs and dance routines from this new show.
We also have our GX Mentors showcasing how they have developed through the organisation by gaining their dance leaders level 1& 2 qualifications and teaching within their communities with demonstrations from the young people they have been teaching. This includes a Gypsy Stars Choir, a music project celebrating Roma culture in Newport.
Justin Teddy Cliffe is a local artist, who is performing two pieces at this years festival. “What happens next” is a fun, chaotic blend of theatre, workshop and party! And “Why are pirates called pirates” is about a ship lost in the Usk!
A pair of gym junkie grasshoppers invite audiences to take part in some hare-brained events in Great Insect Games which promises to be great entertainment for the whole family with it’s gloriously bug-infested comedy.
Now, no one will expect to see books feature too heavily at the Big Splash, more renowned for high-energy performances than for quiet corners to read in. However this years Books! promises to blend the two, as it’s a high-energy, acrobatic show featuring….yes, books! This will surely cater for both the book worms and thrill-seekers amongst us, and is definitely one to watch.
But, don’t forget to look out for Mr & Mrs Pigeon in the streets of the city over the Big Splash weekend. Newport residents are surely accustomed to seeing pigeons lining the city centre streets, and these giant puppets have captured our well-known city dwellers perfectly!
Eternally curious, Mr & Mrs Pigeon investigate everything they come across by pecking and scratching, and express their love for each other in true pigeon style with much strutting and feather ruffling. A definite favourite with children (what child doesn’t love chasing pigeons anyway!?), adults will be hard-pressed not to be thoroughly entertained too, especially if they leave a little….gift!
That’s not all though – this is just a little taster of what’s to come, and there’ll be more popping up across the city in a range of zones over the weekend including at The Riverfront itself, along the river walkway to the University of South Wales building, in John Frost Square, in Usk Plaza and along Commercial Street.
Big Splash 2022 has been made possible thanks to the generous support, funding and sponsorship of Arts Council Wales, Newport City Council, Newport Now BID, Friars Walk, Le Pub, University of South Wales, Articulture, Loyal Free, Newport Bus, Alacrity Foundation, Newport City Homes, Arts & Business Cymru, Pobl, Melin Homes & Linc.
To stay up to date with everything that is planned for Big Splash 2022 make sure you keep an eye on social media, facebook.com/bigsplashnewport and Twitter @BigSplashFest, and visit newportlive.co.uk/BigSplash.
