Contrary Life

Contrary Life is a website covering quirky events across the UK.

  • Home
  • About
  • Events by region
    • North East
    • North West
    • Yorkshire
    • East Midlands
    • West Midlands
    • East
    • London
    • South East
    • South West
    • Scotland
    • Northern Ireland
    • Wales
Home > Festival > Giant insects and mechanical cows in Milton Keynes

Giant insects and mechanical cows in Milton Keynes

By Caroline King - July 20, 2018Posted in : Cabaret, Classes & Workshops, Comedy, Festival, Music, Theatre, TOP-STORY, Walks

IF MK 2018, Sarruga, Insectes

Sarruga’s Insectes

When: 20th – 29th July 2018

Where: Milton Keynes

£: Ticket prices vary, depending on the event. Some events are free

What is it?

This month, there’ll be giant insects stalking the city streets, a chance to have an immersive night-time adventure in the woods, and a circus hub popping up in a shopping centre.

From Friday 20th to Sunday 29th July, IF: Milton Keynes International Festival will transform the spaces of Milton Keynes and invite people to see a different side of the city.  The festival will offer ten days of new outdoor theatre, large and small-scale performance, circus, stand-up comedy, live music, talks, family activities and free events.

For 2018, festival director Monica Ferguson and creative director Bill Gee have put together a programme of performance exploring migration, identity, and community and home.

IF MK 2018, Groupe Acrobatique de Tanger, Halka, Photo: Richard Haughton

Groupe Acrobatique de Tanger will perform at the festival (Photo: Richard Haughton)

This year’s festival highlights will include Sarruga’s Insectes, which will light up the streets on Friday 20th July. Giant cycle-powered steam-breathing ants, spiders and praying mantises, driven by a stirring soundtrack, will promenade through the city centre streets towards a firework finale in Campbell Park.

Other highlights will include an installation of large-scale illuminated dresses by Belgian company Theater Tol.  Life of Tree will honour women who have made a significant contribution to history including Simone de Beauvoir and Florence Nightingale.  And immersive night-time adventure, For the Birds, will offer a self-guided journey along a trail of installations – performances, sound, projections and kinetic sculptures – celebrating birds in song, movement and flight.

There will also be Bicycle Bell-ero, a new music performance by Milton Keynes-based composer Craig McLeish, which will see dozens of cyclists play on specially-tuned cycle bells created from re-purposed handbells.

For Phobiarama the audience will sit in fairground cars.  Dutch theatre maker and visual artist Dries Verhoeven will invite audiences on board a political ghost train, for an immersive excursion through our angst-fuelling media landscape, so flawlessly exploited by politicians, terrorists, marketers and the spinners of fake news.

Belgian company Sur Mesure will bring together musicians, instrument manufacturers, woodworkers and circus artists in Fillage.  Expect a combination of trampolining, acrobatics, juggling and specially composed live music.

For families there will be an ingenious carousel of extraordinary cows, cleverly crafted from wood, scrap and leather. Children (aged two to six years) will get to climb onto the carousel, but it will only go round if the grown-ups milk the mechanical cow that provides the power.  There will also be enchanting tales with puppets, interactive book adaptations, comedy for kids and a baby disco.

More info: www.ifmiltonkeynes.org

Related Posts

  • The HandleBards cycle their way around the UK
  • Water balloon throwing and performances in caves at Bristol Harbour Festival
  • A two week festival of circus and cabaret in London

Tagged With: Buckinghamshire events, Family events, Free events, South East

Curiosity of the Week

Take a ride through history at Blackpool Pleasure Beach
Blackpool Pleasure Beach sign

For our latest Curiosity of the Week, we thought we’d bring you a bit of cheery escapism in the form of fairground rides!

Top Story

Discover nocturnal wildlife wonders at Virtual Dark Skies Festival
Dalby Forest North York Moors Dark Skies cSteve Bell

This year’s Dark Skies Festival is going virtual to help you explore space, nocturnal wildlife and the night sky…

What are you looking for today?

  • Alternative Sport
  • Art
  • Cabaret and Circus
  • Cinema
  • Classes, Workshops & Talks
  • Club Night
  • Comedy
  • Dance
  • Exhibitions and Installations
  • Fairs and Markets
  • Festival
  • Food & Drink
  • Heritage and History
  • Interview
  • Literature
  • Museum
  • Music
  • Nature and Outdoors
  • Review
  • Science and Technology
  • Theatre
  • Walks and Tours

Sign up to our Newsletter

Copyright © 2021 · Contrary Life