From Thursday, the Ovalhouse Theatre will be celebrating all things Brixton its first city festival in the area.
The new four-day event across Brixton will feature “unique theatrical experiences in everyday locations”. Brixton City Festival 2016 is a celebration of Brixton with in collaboration with new artists and showcasing more well-known performers.
There will be Portraits drawn on banknotes by artist Harald Smykla; live music theatre by Brixton icon Lara Lee; a performance of Manifesto, a play written by Courttia Newland and directed by Tarek Iskander; three unique tours of Brixton and much more. The festival runs from Thursday 11 until Sunday 14 August.
What you can find:
Thursday 11 to Saturday 13: 1pm – 6pm, Brixton City Homeland Currency Exchange Bureau by Harald Smykla at Brixton Pound.
Brixton City Festival 2016 will see artist Harald Smykla draw exquisitely detailed portrait of passers-by on banknotes at the Brixton Pound. The Brixton City Homeland Currency Xchange Bureau is a fun, surprising experience where people can bring a banknote from anywhere in the world, and go home with their own unique work of art.
Thursday 11: 3pm & 6pm, PUB by Molly Orange Street Theatre at Brixton Village
PUB is a new circus-sit-com. Set in a failing old fashioned boozer, our PUB landlord and landlady have a big decision to make: go hipster or go hungry. PUB is a farcical look at how gentrification hits its communities hard, and the choice we have between clinging on to the past or chasing the zeitgeist. Featuring acrobatics, juggling, equilibristics and the odd pint of Guinness.
Friday 12 August: 6pm, Artists, Musicians and Mythmakers of Brixton Tour with London Street Tours
Friday 12: 8.30pm Lara Lee’s Wonders of Brixton in Windrush Square
Join a flash mob with Lara Lee aka FLO for a storytelling-music-theatrical rhythm walk through Brixton and all her wonders. Watch the video to learn Lara’s song lyrics and then join in the singing on the night! Lara Lee is a Singer-Poet-Host-Actress-Activist from Brixton. Lara was a contestant on BBC’s The Voice in 2015 where Tom Jones mentored her. Lara also performs with and works as a part-time youth worker for local music charity Raw Material who work with disadvantaged young people in the area.
Saturday 13: Meet at 2.15pm Brixton Market Tour with Brixton Society Tickets £3 (includes a free book)
The walk starts from the corner of Beehive Place and Brixton Station Road at 2.30pm and takes around one and a quarter hours: visit the Brixton Society website to book.
Saturday 13: 1pm -6pm Memory Museum: A Keepsake Collection for Brixton by Nick Field at Empty Shop Initiative
Bring your Brixton belongings down to the Memory Museum, where they’ll be part of an ever-changing performance installation.
Saturday 13: 7pm & 9pm Manifesto by Courttia Newland at St Matthew’s Peace Garden
Come to the play park at the back of St Matthew’s church on Saturday night for floodlights, light mics #justchilling #realtalk. Somewhere in the city, a brotherhood of young men debate the relative worths and deficits of Black Power, delivered with a barbershop meets cipher twist. Real Talk has never been this surreal. Written by award-winning writer Courttia Newland and directed by The Yard Theatre Founder and National Theatre Resident Director Tarek Iskander.
Sunday 14: 4.30pm Jamaican Tales on a family walk in Brixton with London Street Tours.
Sunday 14: 5.30pm Round & Round by Marawa’s Majorettes in Brixton Village and Windrush Square
Dancehall meets reggae in this dazzling hula hoop display with LED hoops and fast paced moves on roller skates. Head to Windrush Square to watch their amazing hooping-skating-dance display and then have a go at hulahooping yourself.
