French parkour artists will jump across the rooftops of Woolwich to launch the Greenwich & Docklands International Festival when it returns in August to mark 30 years of free shows.
Lézards Bleus will open the festival on Friday August 22 in Beresford Square, with eight performers embarking on a “breathtaking journey across landmark buildings”. The free show, Above and Beyond, will feature music from Roma Yagnik and a finale from the Greenwich-based Citizens of the World choir, which will be “inspired by Woolwich’s rich history of mutuality and shared endeavour”.
Greenwich Fair will return for the first time in two years, taking over the new General Wolfe Piazza outside the Royal Observatory on Saturday August 23 and Sunday August 24.
The shows will include Epiphytes from the all-female Belgian circus company Cie Des Chaussons Rouges, who will take inspiration from the life of trees to demonstrate their high-wire skills in front of the London skyline.
Eshu at the Crossroads, from Theatre-Rites and Miguel Altunaga. will showcase Yoruba culture with puppetry, dance and music, while the camp Lady Garden from Miss Leg High Kick will mix performance art, comedy and dance.
A series of shows under the banner Turning Worlds will take place in Greenwich Peninsula on August 30 and 31, including Ripple, from the Dutch TeaTime company, based around a giant metal spiral which “becomes an acrobatic playground as circus, dance and physics come together in a performance exploring the consequences of our actions”.
The Platform of Imbalance will simulate lunar gravity in the Design District’s rooftop basketball court, while Walking on the Wall will see acrobats doing just that the creative quarter.
The world premiere of Fragments of Us, from the black theatre company Talawa and the dance company Fubunation, will take place in General Gordon Square in Woolwich on September 4. The dance theatre performance, directed by Sonia Hughes, will “celebrate the endless possibilities of black masculinity”.
In the same square on the same day, Go Grandad Go! from Company DHW will combine hip-hop, dance and storytelling in feel-good show about intergenerational family relationships and Caribbean culture.
In Thamesmead, The Weight of Water from the Dutch company Panama Pictures will feature six performers struggling on an unpredictable floating stage in a nail-biting tale about global warming which combines dance, circus and live music. The show will take place on Birchmere Lake on September 5 and 6.
Bradley Hemmings, GDIF’s artistic director, said: “This year’s theme Above and Beyond grows out of 30 years of delivering GDIF across Greenwich, east London and the City of London. In that time we’ve learned that there are no edges or boundaries in outdoor theatre and the usual distinctions between art and the everyday are often miraculously blurred.
“This year our ‘stage’ stretches out in all directions – across parks, town centres, basketball courts, roofs and a water space, whilst we also invite audiences to look up, both physically and imaginatively. In the difficult, often fractious times we’re living through, the festival offers a moment in the midst of life’s challenges, to take a breath and experience something uplifting, free and accessible which everyone can enjoy.”
In all, 30 companies will produce shows for the festival to mark its 30th year, with details of the Dancing City “festival within a festival” yet to be announced. Funding includes £55,000 from Greenwich Council, while other backers include Arts Council England and Newham Council.
The programme is now live at festival.org/gdif-2025.
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