Festival announces new programme

Greenwich+Docklands International Festival (GDIF), London’s award-winning annual outdoor festival of free theatre and performing arts taking place from 23 August to 8 September 2024, has revealed its full programme.

A total of 20 premieres, including two world and one European premiere, UK and international artists from Australia, South Africa, France, Spain, The Netherlands and Quebec are part of this year’s 50+ events inspired by the festival theme of ALL CHANGE.

A highlight of the festival is the European premiere of THAW, an epic creation by Australian physical theatre company Legs On The Wall in response to the devastating bushfires of 2019/20. The performance will take place at UEL’s Docklands Campus.  

Thaw brings Londoners face to face with the urgent need for global climate action through a powerful performance which takes place over 8 hours. This aerial feat on a 2.5-tonne block of ice gathers intensifying power and urgency as the ice, suspended on a crane high above the iconic landscape of Newham’s Royal Docks, gradually melts away. The performance repeated the following day will be filmed by London Filmed and live-streamed online, with further details of how global audiences can tune in to be announced closer to the time.  

GDIF’s overall programme is packed with surprising and unusual events often featuring innovative staging. Many events invite participation and five productions have been co-created with local people. All are taking place in public spaces across the Royal Borough of Greenwich, Newham and the City of London.  

The worlds of pyrotechnics and percussion collide on Friday 23 August in this year’s opening night spectacle Silence! presented by world-renowned French street artist Les Commandos Perçu. Skies above Woolwich will be lit up for a jaw-dropping evening of live drumming and choreographed pyrotechnics, launching GDIF 2024 with an electrifying wave of energy against the backdrop of Woolwich’s Royal Artillery Barracks. With echoes of Woolwich’s industrial, military and manufacturing heritage, the production also looks to the future in its celebration of collective endeavour and creativity.  

Among today’s newly announced unmissable theatre shows are two thrilling premieres: Award-winning site-specific theatre makers Dante or Die present A Ballad of Thamesmead; a heartfelt and immersive co-created portrait of South-East London’s town of tomorrow’, Thamesmead, fusing live contemporary folk music, sound design and spectacular lighting. Multi-award-winning theatre companies Good Chance and Gecko join forces to present From Here On, marking the 85th anniversary of the Kindertransport to imagine a safer future for all children in the present. This extraordinary and groundbreaking physical theatre performance explores a child’s right to safe passage and calls for empathy, hope and unity. These world premieres join the previously announced Actors Touring Company production Bodies of Water, directed by Olivier-winning director Matthew Xia, co-created with local sanctuary-seeking communities and experienced on the shore of the Thames in Greenwich. In Eltham, Award-winning theatre company Mechanimal’s Crap at Animals will playfully explore extinct and endangered species through clowning and physical theatre.  

Life Lines by world-renowned climbing and acrobatics artist Lézards Bleus will take audiences on a spectacular and surprising journey through the Greenwich Peninsula with a tour de force integration of parkour and contemporary architecture. Award-winning artist collective Variable Matter presents the art and sound installation World Kiosk at Green Street in Newham, where a street kiosk appears for five magical days. Visitors are invited to escape the intensity of the City, sip a delicious cup of tea and listen to an entrancing soundscape of shared stories and reflections.  

For the first time, GDIF transforms Stratford Park in Newham into a theatrical playground for children and families in PARKWORKS, a new free two-day family-friendly programme with performances and games across the August Bank Holiday Sunday and Monday. Kicking off the festivities with a synchronized pram party is the previously announced highlight Pram People by Polyglot in a moving celebration of community and parent-child connection. Families are also invited to experience an inclusive aerial performance with Ella Mesma’s Rainbow Butterfly, South Asian dance and storytelling in Sonia Sabri’s Moghul Miniatures and help to build Morphosis, an enormous bamboo play structure with French artist Moso.  

Dancing City, GDIF’s annual celebration of international and UK dance this year moves to Newham in public spaces across Stratford Cross, East Bank, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and Stratford Town Centre on 7 September. The programme of 11 events announced today is presented in partnership with Sadler’s Wells East for the first time and includes work by Mark Smith Productions, 100Hands, Afro Queens, Richard Chappell Dance, Stacked Wonky, Le Patin Libre, Chandenie Gobhardhan, Brandon Anderson and StopGAP Dance Company. They join the previously announced Patios choreographed by Jeanefer-Jean Charles MBE and the UK premiere of Touch by Yoann Bourgeois, (Harry styles-as it was 2022, Missy Elliot Cool off 2020).  

Bradley Hemmings MBE, GDIF’s Artistic Director said, 

This year GDIF has adopted the theme of ALL CHANGE. These are difficult times everywhere and the world of outdoor arts is no exception. However, by embracing change, welcoming new partners and reinventing the shape of this year’s festival, I’m very proud that GDIF will continue to bring stunning free and inclusive outdoor arts experiences to audiences across 17 fantastic days."