Puppets, Poetry and the Party Somewhere Else : Three festivals to check out in Nottinghamshire.

From live music to tasty food and drink, caves, comedy and children’s theatre, there are no less than 26 festivals happening in Nottinghamshire in 2018 - that’s a lot of festival frenzy to take in. Over March and April there are puppets, poetry and performing arts to discover as festival season kicks off in Nottinghamshire. Read on to see what’s piquing our interests over these early days of spring.

The Party Somewhere Else
 

Tuesday 20 – Saturday 24 March 2018

With 70 years of theatre in its wings and some spectacular recent shows, the programme at Nottingham Playhouse is always worth a look. This month, local collective The Party Somewhere Else presents six days of diverse workshops, talks, discussions, performance and theatre, showcasing work from women (and some men!) from around the country. Like a mini-Edinburgh fringe, you’ll find everything from feminist spoken-word and raunchy comedy to potent explorations of ancestry and gender and lots more.

We have our eyes set on glamour puss, academic and thespian Maria, who has been hailed as “the anarchic love child of French and Saunders and Hinge and Brackett.” (Three Weeks) and presents her show The Full Bronte on Saturday 24 March. Inky Matter, a solo performance by Kimberley Harvey, is inspired by the art of letter-writing on Friday 23 March. The Open House on Saturday 24 (1.30 – 4.30pm) is your opportunity to meet, mingle, listen, talk, laugh, and cry if you want to, as you discuss, create and wrestle with some key questions about what is important in getting diverse female stories on stage.

Click here for the full line-up of events.

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Nottingham Puppet Festival 

Thursday 22 - Sunday 25 March 2018

There’s something rather magical about puppetry. While we barely blink an eyelid at CGI and hi-tech feats these days, a puppet show can bring us back down to earth. Perhaps it’s the simplicity of its make and movement which arouses curiosity, the creation of a character in front of our very eyes, or the sheer versatility of this age-old prop.

The first Nottingham puppet festival is brought to you by Nottingham City Council, Theatre Royal and the creative minds at City Arts. At a glance you will find a stunning line-up of parades, performances, projections, workshops and film screenings. Look more closely at the programme and you’ll find events catering for children and older people, others exploring digital puppetry, disability and puppetry, and writing for puppetry.

The Old Market Square will be jam-packed with things to see and do as a Pop-up Puppet Village sets up shop Friday to Sunday, while other venues include Broadway, The National Videogame Arcade, Nottingham Lakeside Arts, Central Library and Malt Cross.

Click here to see the full list of events.

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Nottingham Poetry Festival
 

Friday 20 - Sunday 29 April 2018

A UNESCO City of Literature, Nottingham is a place with ink and letters running through its streets. The echoes of Lord Byron, D.H. Lawrence and Alan Sillitoe still resound, but we’re not resting on our laurels. A whole new host of writers and poets have taken up arms in the past ten years, with more poetry collectives and scratch nights than you can shake a well-scribbled notebook at.

Nottingham Poetry Festival returns in April to regale us with rhyme and rhythm and wonderfully ponderous meanderings through language. This certainly isn’t the boring prose of dreary English literature lessons, oh no. Poetry, or more accurately spoken-word, has taken on a new identity for the 21^st century, reflecting the rhythmical styles of hip-hop and the heart-felt honesty of popular music.

Along with Nottingham’s own Young Poet Laureate Georgina Wilding and various local poets, this year’s line-up sees rising-star Hollie McNish, the very funny Elvis McGonagall, and BBC Radio 4’s Roger McGough as part of the headline acts but with over 40 bookshops, cafes, bars and venues signed up there will be a host of smaller events throughout the city too.

While the full line-up is yet to be announced, you can click here for more details.

For all 2018 festivals, take a look at our What's On listings.