Three days of family fun at Unexpected Exeter

Exeter's Unexpected 2014 Festival, running 29-31 Aug, brings some of the UK's most explosive street theatre and circus shows to the open-air streets, cultural venues and public spaces of Exeter in an extraordinary three days of family festival fun to end the summer holidays.

Best of all, almost the entire programme is free and unticketed – meaning families can enjoy all the fun at their leisure, on what promises to be the most exciting Exeter weekend of the summer.

Returning after Exeter City Council's huge success producing Unexpected 2013 - the Festival's stunning debut, this major 2014 three-day celebration will enthrall and delight residents and guests across the city centre, featuring international circus superstars, such as NoFit State and many other highly-talented performance artists.

Having dazzled more than 250,000 people worldwide, NoFit State lead Circus Sunday (31 Aug), inviting the people of Exeter to Princesshay to get involved with their free, spectacular, outdoor production, Open House before taking their place in the stunning Festival Carnival Parade.

Open House is an incredible menagerie of circus chaos that swaps the traditional big top for a caravanned colony of musicians, acrobats and aerialists, filling Exeter's Princesshay with colour, live music and amazing physical feats.
NoFit State will also teach visitors of all ages how to balance, jump and throw shapes, before leading the spectacular costumed Carnival Parade Festival finale.

As part of the First World War Centenary programme, the Unexpected 2014 festival commission is an evocative artistic interpretation of First World War Recruitment Centres that in 1914, that would have brimmed with enthusiastic optimism, expecting the war to be over by Christmas.

This major family-friendly festival commission, entitled, The Great Fete, takes place Sat 30 August, within Exeter's Rougemont and RAMM gardens. Working in partnership with the award-winning Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM), the events invite 'enlistees' young and old, to sing songs in the style of popular music halls of the era, make poppies, try hands-on physical challenges and even take part in a tea dance to a live Palm Court trio, all under the atmospheric watch of costumed performers, nurses and recruitment officers.

For families with young children come along and help the Suffragettes make poppies and roses for the let’s remember garden, decorate a shortbread poppy biscuit and join in a musical singalong, celebrating popular songs from the day.

On Friday 29 and Saturday 30 August, adventurous dramatists from Burn the Curtain presents The Company of Wolves. which will lead a trip through the woods in a spine-tingling tale, based on the spooky stories of Angela Carter. Setting off at dusk, audiences will be able to walk or run alongside the players in an unforgettable performance lit by torches and lights.

Meanwhile, the hilarious UK renowned performers, Le Navet Bete will conjure a high-energy, madcap event as part of the thrilling Xplosion series of shows in Princesshay and Blue Boy Square, where amongst others, Angie Mack will also be whirling a giant hoop on her way to creating a gigantic, human multi-hooping tower.

Infectious troupe Circadian will be showing visitors how beauty can be found everywhere on a walkabout. Vamos Theatre will also be signposting a stroll in the company of caring midwives from the 1940s, intent on averting medical emergencies, ensuring the public are in tip-top health and even delivering babies if necessary.

Kids will love Turbo Jones, whose Reckless Invention remixes Vanilla Ice, Lionel Richie, Grandmaster Flash, MC Hammer, Rick Astley and more in a blend of breakdance, physical comedy and 1980s rap.

Hip-hop is equally infused in the work of Upswing. In Loved Up, their three unique characters meet in the park and bounce off each other in a witty, exhilarating mix of theatre and stunning aerial choreography.

Dance, digital art, historic buildings and parks will all be part of a hugely diverse Unexpected 2014 programme with plenty of surprises in store, including a range of public workshops allowing everyone to show off their creativity.

Incredible hands-on Carnival Workshops (11-24 Aug) led by the stellar costume supremo, Iola Weir, offer a fantastic, free chance to work with top carnival artists to make and decorate circus costumes to take part in Unexpected’s Grand Finale Carnival Parade.

From 10am-6pm, 11 Aug 2014 onwards, (not Sundays), these carnival workshops take place at the Exeter Scrapstore Exhibition space, 85 South Street EX1 1EQ.

Equally, Devon Carousel will share their expertise in poppy and rose-making masterclasses at the Children’s Library, while Double Elephant will use letterpress and screen print, helping visitors create a bag or poster at the Guildhall Shopping Square (all dates and times are below).

Other family favourite, festival highlights include sparkling circus skills, robotics and mime from Jason Maverick, a show combining traditional Indian magic with comedy courtesy of Andrew Elliott, Circo Rum Ba Ba – the smallest hotel in the world, which comes alive before your eyes after beginning in darkness – and A Small Chance of Showers, an uplifting, clever piece of storytelling by up-and-coming company Can’t Sit Still.

Cllr Rosie Denham, Lead Councillor for Economy and Culture, said: “Unexpected 2014 makes these stunning performances accessible and highly fun for visitors and residents drawn to the city, adding to Exeter's ever-growing status as the cultural hub of the south west.

“We are immensely grateful for the support of sponsors and funding from the National Lottery via Arts Council England. This enables the festival to bring companies like NoFit State to Exeter and to commission local companies such as Promenade Promotions, Le Navet Bete, Devon Carousel and Nuts and Volts and artists such as Carnival Designer Iola Weir to produce new work in the city.”

Unexpected 2014 Festival: events, dates and times

Friday 29 August

12 noon–4.30pm, free           
XPLOSION!
Princesshay & Blue Boy Square, EX1 1QA
Produced by Fools Paradise: www.foolsparadise.co.uk
Compere: Goronwy Thom is a juggler, unicyclist and all round showman.

Friday 29 August XPLOSION Shows:

•         Turbo Jones – Reckless Invention: This blazin’ show from Reckless Invention is a totally unique comedy fusing breakdance, physical comedy, audience participation and 80’s rap.

•         Le Navet Bete – Rumpus: laugh uncontrollably with Exeter’s favourite clowns for a ‘Rumpus’ - expect a high-energy ridiculous, madcap and utterly hilarious show.

•         Angie Mack - Hula Hoop Show: Join Angie Mack on her hula hoop journey through the ages and across the globe.

•         Circadian - Schmutter Bros. The Brothers are hungry and in need of some food. Using nothing but their portable kitchen and a bag of the finest ingredients, they serve up a smorgasbord of culinary chaos.

•         Upswing - Loved Up: Don’t miss this unique mix of dancehall, acrobatics and street dance blended with stunning aerial techniques.

Friday 29 August: Exeter City Centre Walkabouts:
•         Vamos Theatre - Midwives on Call: Our 1940s midwives hit the streets averting ‘medical emergencies’, delivering babies, and making sure that the public are in tip top health.

•         Circadian - Art Critics: The Art Critics are two flamboyant lovies who find the beauty in everything. To them everything is a piece of art.

Friday 29 August & Saturday 30 August

7pm & the only ticketed event during Unexpected 2014
Burn the Curtain present: The Company of Wolves
Based on the stories by Angela Carter

Riverside Valley Park, Exeter, EX2 4RY
The meeting point will be confirmed after booking
Adults: £8 Children (U18): £5 Family Ticket: £24 (two children, two adults)
Minimum age 8+
Tickets www.bikeshed.co.uk - a ticket sales contribution will be made to WaterAid.
  
Join Burn the Curtain in this retelling of this dark and mysterious modern classic.  Run or walk with us, and help to sniff out those who have been born feet first, who are hairy on the inside... Depending on the path you take, the journey will be between 2 miles (walkers) and 5 miles (runners) long, this mythical and spine tingling tale will be told along the way.

Remember ‘if you stray from the path for one instant, the wolves will eat you’. Please wear suitable footwear and dress appropriately for the weather.

The show will take place as dusk falls please bring a torch or head torch.For further details, please see www.burnthecurtain.co.uk

Saturday 30 August

12 noon–4.30pm, free
Produced by Fools Paradise www.foolsparadise.co.uk
XPLOSION!
Princesshay and Blue Boy Square, EX1 1QA
Compere: Goronwy Thom

Saturday 30th August XPLOSION Shows:

•         Circo Rum Ba Ba - L’Hotel: The ‘smallest hotel in the world’ is shrouded but watch as it comes alive. 

•         Andrew Elliott - Jaardu the Magic of India: Drawing on his eastern & western heritage, Jaardu presents a show combining traditional Indian magic with comedy.

•         Reckless Invention – Comedy Waiters: This dinner service delight combines silent comedy and graceful slapstick to great effect.

•         Jason Maverick: High-energy shows for street events or cabaret which are set almost entirely to music, combining superb mime and robotics with a huge range of circus skills.

Saturday 30 August

4.30pm-7.30pm FREE

Festival Commission: The Great Fete
RAMM Garden and Rougemont Gardens, EX4 3PT
Artistic Director: Tony Lidington

Raise Morale! Do Your Bit! Exeter Unexpected Expects You!

In August 2014 the world will mark the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War. In Exeter, like in many places across the country, the recruitment of civilians into the forces began in earnest in August 1914. These recruitment events captured the spirit of that time when nobody expected the war to last so long or to be so severe.

Unexpected, with artists Promenade Promotions, Le Navet Bete, Nuts and Volts Theatre and Devon Carousel has created a reinterpretation of the enthusiastic, optimistic recruitment events which encouraged the men and boys from Exeter to enlist in 1914. The Great Fete is an opportunity to share the optimism of this time but also to reflect and commemorate.

Enter the recruitment zone. Be examined by the Sergeant Major, grab an enlistment pass, participate in games and activities designed to be fun as well as informative about the practical realities of military life. including an obstacle course, map reading skills, agility tests, show of strength; interact with characters of the period, recruitment sergeants, enlisting nurses and more  presented by Le Navet Bete, Nuts and Volts Theatre and Promenade Promotions.

For families with young children come along and help the Suffragettes to make poppies and roses for our let’s remember garden, decorate a shortbread biscuit with a poppy or a rose to eat and join in a musical singalong, celebrating popular songs from the day.

Get a cup of tea & take to the floor with the Tasty Music Palm Court Trio! Or join in a sing song on the Music Hall Stage – a contemporary look at this popular entertainment including many of the songs that suggested joining up to fight was every man’s duty. ‘We don’t want to lose you (but we think you ought to go)’ (1914) ‘Goodbye-ee (1917).

In partnership with RAMM, Exeter Library and Exeter Phoenix, www.prom-prom.com; www.lenavetbete.com; www.nutsandvoltstheatre.co.uk andwww.thecarouselproject.org.uk

Also open during the Great Fete:
We Will Remember 1914-18
RAMM Courtyard
This embroidered hanging is the creation of artist and embroidery tutor Adrienne Howells. The six foot high black and white artwork depicts scenes from the trenches, with red silk poppies appliquéd onto banners either side, honouring those who died in the First World War. Poppies are available for visitors to write the name of a family member who served; each poppy will be sewn around the main image. All donations will go to support the work of the British Legion.

Across the lines @ Exeter Library
An exhibition of items related to the First World War drawn from the Library and Heritage collection. Plus café.

Exeter Phoenix
Archive film footage and café/bar
Part of First World War Centenary, the national partnership of commemorative events
www.1914.org

Saturday 30 August
7.30pm, free
Blood on the Streets
Mr Fred’s Barbers, South Street, EX1 1EE
Blood on the Streets is a public performance lecture situated within the window of a barbershop. The lecture explores the history of bloodletting as a medical practice, tracing its roots in ancient medicine, the rise of the barber-surgeon and the current understanding of blood within modern medicine. There’s a new Sweeney Todd in town, but this one’s not out to kill! www.newsweeneytodd.com Supported through funding from the National Lottery via Arts Council England and The Wellcome Trust.

Burn the Curtain present
The Company of Wolves
7pm (see Friday 29 August)

Unexpected 2014 Circus Sunday
Sunday 31 August
11am–12.30pm & 2pm–3.30pm, free
Open House No Fit State
Princesshay. EX1 1QA
Directed by Orit Azaz, Open House is an immersive, ever-evolving large-scale circus installation where anything can happen and everything becomes an excuse for performance and spectacle. Flowing through the town, setting up in a city square, unfolding washing lines, flags, umbrellas and piles of bric-a-brac, there is no big top but a colony of musicians, acrobats and aerialists exploding out of caravans - a joyous menagerie of circus chaos setting the town alive. www.nofitstate.org

12.45-1.30 PM
Can't Sit Still - A Small Chance of Showers
Blue Boy Square, Princesshay
A journey of rain and storms, weather reports and wellies!
www.cantsitstill.net 
  
12.30-2.30pm Promenade Promotions
Uncle Tackos Imaginarium
Exeter Guildhall Shopping Centre
Enter the exotic world of Uncle Tacko’s Imaginarium where any extraordinary act might be on show!
www.prom-prom.com

Grand Finale: The Unexpected 2014 Circus Carnival Parade
Designed by Iola Weir
Music: Samba Marcianas
Leaving Exeter Guildhall at 3.45pm
Did you ever dream of joining the circus? If you haven’t done so yet, now’s your chance - you won’t look back! Wear your beard with style, bounce on the back of an acrobat and hide behind a ferocious lion … it’s all yours for the taking - and the making! Unexpected Carnival costumes, made by local people throughout the summer, will parade with NoFit State and live music providing a colourful, stunning finale to Unexpected 2014. Come and join in! The Express & Echo are media sponsors for the UnExpected grand finalé.

Unexpected 2014 Festival Workshops

11 – 24 August (not Sundays)
10am – 6pm
Carnival workshops led by Iola Weir
Free Exeter Scrapstore Exhibition space,
85 South Street EX1 1EQ
Exeter needs you! Helping Make Carnival Parade Costumes
This is a fantastic, free chance to work with top carnival artists to make and decorate circus costumes for Unexpected’s Grand Finale Carnival Parade. Between the 11 - 24 Aug, from 10am-6pm (not Sundays), hands-on carnival workshops will be lead by Iola Weir at the Exeter Scrapstore Exhibition space, 85 South Street EX1 1EQ.

Calling all community groups and anyone interested in costume making, make a costume to promote your group and join in carnival. Come and join or have a workshop in your own community space. An excellent free activity suitable for all ages (children must be accompanied). For more information, please email: festival@exeter.gov.uk

Friday 22, Wednesday 27 & Friday 29 August
10am - 12pm Devon Carousel's Poppy and Rose Making workshops for the Greta Fete
Free drop-in sessions
Children’s Library, Exeter Library, Castle Street, EX4 3PQ
Excellent for families with young children
Make paper poppies and roses, one to wear and one to decorate the Great Fete, the Unexpected First World War event in Rougemont Gardens on Saturday 30 August ! We’ll also be going on a musical storytale, using stories, memories and brilliant songs from the time.

Friday 29 August & Sunday 30 August
12 noon – 4.30pm  12 noon – 4pm
Double Elephant Print
Workshop Conversation Station
Bedford Square, EX1 1LR
Exeter Guildhall Shopping Centre, EX4 3LP FREE                 
Visit the Conversation Station for printing and a chat. Using letterpress and screen print Double Elelephant will help you to print a design onto a bag or poster whilst talking about ending prejudice around mental illness. This is a project of “Time to Change” the campaign to end mental health discrimination. We all have stories to tell, so don’t be shy and take away a souvenir of your conversation.
www.doubleelephant.org.uk

Monday 1 September
2-6pm
Interactive Theatre Workshop
Led By Coney
Studio TS1 – University of Exeter Drama Dept,
Thornlea, New North Road, EX4 4LA Theatre.
Tickets: £10 full price/£5 Unexpected Artists & concessions*
Book tickets via Event Brite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/making-interactive-theatre-with-coney-and-u...

Coney make interactive theatre, where the audience is present and has scope to play. This workshop opens up some of the tactics and techniques for making interactive theatre, including game design, responsive writing and character creation.

This practical workshop is open to all theatre-makers: writers, performers, directors, designers, facilitators, and more. www.coneyhq.org For further info contact Becca Savory on: becca.savory@gmail.com