Children and families will be spoilt for choice across the whole weekend with a mixture of free and ticketed events. Ripon Library will welcome Hoglets Theatre with a twilight show for little ones. Children are invited to come dressed for bed and to enjoy a gentle bed-time adventure with The Sleep Pirates show. Story Craft Theatre also take over the library for an afternoon of crafty tales around the Heading into Space theme. Puppetry and theatre for families feature heavily on Festival Saturday with back-to-back entertainment both indoors and outdoors across the city.
Internationally-respected Lempen Puppet Theatre take part in an entire day of indoor and outdoor shows and workshops. Family-focused productions will be in residence in Ripon Spa Gardens for Festival Saturday. Badapple Theatre Company present their charming Tales from the Great Wood followed by Strange Twig Theatre Company with Winnie and Warwick’s Magical Menagerie, a marvellously silly show complete with animatronic puppets. These shows sit alongside Punch and Judy puppet shows and the Spa Gardens Zone kicks off with an interactive Musical Bear Hunt for young children. Meanwhile, in the Little Ripon Bookshop there will be a series of Storytelling events, and don’t forget the puppet-led family Trail Game around the city centre.
Theatre performances in fixed locations are only half the fun on Festival Saturday. Colourful street theatre and “walkabout” acts will help create a festival vibe throughout the day. Alongside unicyclists and stilt-walkers, you are bound to bump into some crazy characters and surprising sights such as medieval dragons, comedy waiters, an evil plant and some silly men hidden in gigantic flower-pots. Professional street acts will run alongside local community groups and musicians performing around the city streets and linking the three main Festival zones together. The Festival Zones are: Market Place, Spa Gardens and the Ripon Canal Basin.
For more information about Ripon Theatre Festival and what is on visit their website or social media.
Ripon Theatre Festival is managed by Ripon City Festival Trust 1986 (registered charity no: 514981)
