Liverpool will be Streets Ahead of the rest next Bank Holiday weekend
Saturday 24th, Sunday 25th & Monday 26th May 2008
Be prepared for a Bank Holiday weekend of fantastic free street theatre, circus, dance, music and surprises as the world’s leading street artists gather for a spectacular day and night extravaganza!
When & Where:
Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th May
8:30pm – 11pm
St George’s Plateau
Sunday 25th and Monday 26th May
11:30am- 6pm
Liverpool city centre
(Church St, Lord St, Williamson Sq, Bold St, The Cavern Quarter, Derby Sq, St Luke’s Church)
Cost: FREE
By night there are firecrackers, masked drummers, giant dragons, water sculptures and breathtaking aerial acrobatic escapades.
By day see shows on every corner, roaming acts along the streets, surprises in the squares and shop windows, ballroom dancing in the streets and even a giant neurotic compost heap!
Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th (8:30pm – 11pm, St George’s Plateau*)
Pack a picnic, snag a prime position and enjoy an evening or two of unforgettable sights and sounds with friends and family, all for free.
The festivities start with a bang with a firecracker display from paBoom followed by spectacular drumming from Italy’s Dadadang.
Catalan street art stars Sarruga will have the audience in awe as their giant mechanical dragons battle it out for supremacy of the streets.
The UK’s Avanti Display will make a big splash with Hydromania transforming statues and landmarks into wondrous water features.
A striking finale Kaosmos from Puja!, Spanish / Argentinean theatre sees 12 aerial acrobats achieve surreal feats as they are suspended from a sphere above the plateau.
Sunday 25th May and Monday 26th May (11:30am – 6pm, Liverpool city centre)
With everything from a row of 100 community line-dances boot-scooting their way along the street to retro fairground booths, a wild hairdressing saloon and Japanese jugglers, there is non-stop entertainment for all.
Leading French choreographer Gianni Joseph and his dancers draw inspiration from the street to create a captivating work amid the fountain in Williamson Square.
France’s Cacahuète theatre troupe brings together local students, actors and other glamorous assistants to find the mannequin within to strike a pose and create some particularly surprising shop fronts along Bold Street throughout the weekend.
The famous Cavern Quarter gets even livelier than usual, with a menagerie of snapping seagulls, stilt-walkers, gorillas and even a human table and chair taking to the streets.
If it all gets a little too surreal, head for the café and chill out zone in St Luke’s Church for acoustic music and other treats.
Derby Square will be transformed into Milan’s La Scala Opera House, offering a space for everyone to shine with an open-air ballroom and a live ceilidh. To close the festival on Monday there is a symphony for the city where the audience is the orchestra, led Marseille-based musicians Lieux Publics.
Liverpool Streets Ahead is commissioned by Liverpool Culture Company for its European Capital of Culture ’08 celebrations and is presented by M.I.A.
*St George’s Plateau is an alcohol free zone