Greenwich and Docklands International Festival announces initial line up 2019
© MC Monin
The first shows for this year's Greenwich and Docklands International Festival have been revealed.
Performed across Royal Greenwich and east London, the free festival sees a variety of international companies coming to the UK between 21 June and 6 July.
This year, the City of London will be involved in the festival for the first time, with a street theatre adaptation of iconic novel Moby Dick being performed by Italian company Teatro Dei Venti. Running on 22 June, the piece will be set in London's Roman Amphitheatre at the Guildhall Yard and merges theatre, circus, dance and music alongside some large-scale puppets to tell Herman Melville's aquatic adventure.
© Jessica Wilson
More circus comes in the form of Compagnie XY's Les Voyages on 30 June at The Moorings in Thamesmead. The piece is an acrobatic exploration of people and place created following a residency with local people on The Moorings estate.
Passenger, by Jessica Wilson runs at Millenium Mills at the Royal Docks between 26 and 29 June. The piece is a conversation between two passengers on a bus riding through London's docks.
Greenwich Fair, the two-day event, returns to Greenwich town centre on 22 and 23 June and will see a number of performances in the public space. Dutch company Babok's PolderCoaster is a reimagining of a fairground ride, while Tickertape Parade's Fantabulosa evokes a fantastical queer-positive pop-up world. Dancing City, a regular at the festival, also returns on 29 June to Canary Wharf.
On 29 June, promenade production Mo and the Red Ribbon by Compagnie L'Homme Debout will move through the streets of east London and will explore the experience of migration.
Artistic director Bradley Hemmings MBE said, "This year, at a time of national division and uncertainty regarding the UK's relationship with Europe, GDIF will offer an antidote of fun, conviviality and togetherness, bringing Londoners together as never before with a joyously spectacular international programme of free outdoor arts."
