Theatre News

Norfolk & Norwich Festival – Highlights for 9-16 May

Anne Morley-Priestman

The EPIC Studios play host to Vivarium Studio and L’Effet de Serge between Monday 9 and Wednesday 11 May. It’s by Philippe Quesne and – under the guise of a small-scale home-made amateur performance – explores the meaning of art. Wednesday 11 May also sees 2 rien merci in a small circus tent in Great Yarmouth’s Market Place. Gramoulinophone combines street art with circus in a magical and absurd entertainment.

Artichoke take us al fresco to Elsing Hall and Dining With Alice, which is based on the Lewis Carroll classic but is definitely not a children’s show. It’s been devised by Hilary Westlake and has music by Frank Millward – not to mention a Victorian-style dinner for the audience. If you can’t make the initial performances from Thursday 12 to Sunday 15 May, additional ones are from Wednesday 15 to Saturday 21 May.

Also out-of-doors is the Graeae Theatre Company on the Millenium Plain on Thursday 12 and Friday 13 May. It’s one of the festival’s free events, an adaptation by Paul Sirett of The Iron Man by Ted Hughes. Audio description, British Sign Language and giant puppets make this modern-day fairy story accessible to all.

La Groupe Acrobatique de Tangier are at the Theatre Royal with Chouf Ouchouf on Friday 13 and Saturday 14 May as the culmination of the UK tour. There’s live music and an intriguing set as well as a breath-taking display of traditional and performance art skills. Red Herring’s variation on Punch and Judy – That’s The Way To Do It! – is on the Cromer seafront on Saturday and Sunday, 14 and 15 May.

Of course, the wondrous Spiegeltent, as always, hosts a spectacular sequence of cabaret, circus, burlesque and late-night music, including the European première of Strut and Fret’s Cantina on Monday 9 and Wednesday 11 to Saturday 14 May.