Just So Festival – Here are the details of this years programme
Earlier we detailed the new festival areas for 2018, but here are details about this years programme.
In the Spellbound Forest there will be tales from storyteller extraordinaire Ian Douglas. Explorers will find a Barefoot Walk as well as nature and bush crafts to take part in. For the adventurous there’ll be den building and tree climbing and as dusk falls campfire tales and bonfire bands will enchant.
In the magical Woodland Theatre witness how the lives of a sapling and a child are entwined in Like A Tree by Hocus Pocus Theatre. Take part in Legs 11 – an absurdist’s tale of land and home told through song, puppetry and a game of chance. Let your imaginations soar with award-winning musician David Gibb. David will be performing toe-tapping songs from recent new album Climb That Tree. As night falls you’ll also be able to snuggle up together to classic films.
Prepare to be wowed in the eccentric Village Green. Here you will find some of the best new outdoor arts performances created especially for festival audiences in 2018. Take part in the riotous bicycle-powered musical Bicycle Boy – a celebration of pedal power by Helen Eastman Production. There is also Look Up by Hikapee Theatre – a collaboration of circus, puppetry and theatre. This show celebrates what we can see by stepping outside of our everyday lives. Follow the unexpected tale of a postman whose packages have lost their labels in Special Delivery from Bird In The Hand Theatre. Unleash your inner artist and create your own Jackson Pollock style painting with water pistols in Never Mind The Pollocks.
The Village Green is also the nerve centre of the Tribal Tournament. Here you can join the Bee, Fox, Frog, Owl, Fish, Stag and Lion tribes. The tribes compete in ridiculous games, challenges and all manner of unexpected shenanigans. Earn golden pebbles and be crowned the winning tribe of 2018. Don’t miss the legendary Just So Festival pillow fight and Tribal Parade. Stretch your knowledge of the world around you and meet some of the UK’s favourite children’s authors. The authors will be sharing the best new books out this year. You can also take part in workshops, provocations, debates and talks in the beautiful Forgotten Courtyard.
If dance is your thing then with a musical line up of over 20 live bands there should be something for everyone! Heading to the Footlights stage will be moustache-powered troubadours Biscuithead and the Biscuit Badgers and good-time-gang Thingumabob & The Thingumajigs. Don’t miss an interactive concert from clarinettist and composer Arun Ghosh, toe-tapping folk from The Shackleton Trio and mini-musical circus experience 12-piece The Roustabouts.
Step through a verdant archway into the Weleda Peekaboo Garden. The garden features botanical bliss and innovative performances. There are activities and right royal facilities for 0-4s in a new location in a gentle, tranquil valley. Experience some huge adventures for little people connecting us to our natural world. Don’t miss The Bewonderment Machine, a magical cycle-powered ride-on carousel. There’ll also be a miniature theatrical flight of the imagination from A Bird In The Hand Theatre. Visit a living Weleda garden to discover more about the amazing properties and powers of our native plants.
Flex some creative muscles together in flower crown making workshops (advance booking) and enjoy some grown-up relaxation time with complimentary Weleda Skin Food hand massages. Across the weekend, take time to find out more about the benefits of ethical and natural beauty and key ingredients with a special Q&A session with a Weleda expert, a Skincare Workshop for tweens, teens (and their grown-ups!) and take part in a Clean Beauty Amnesty, swapping products for a natural alternative.
Music, paint, clay, dens and bubbles, baby book club and baby bath time here will ensure the littlies doze off to the sound of our choral lullabies as dusk falls.
Relax at The High Seas. On the Left Bank of the stunning Rode Pool lake, make Lanterns for the Just So Lantern Parade. Enjoy beautiful vistas and take a rowing boat out on to the tranquil expanse of water.
Keep your eyes peeled for curious characters and experiences to take you by surprise across the festival. This includes exploits from Don Quixote and Sancho Panza from The Fabularium, Rimski and Hankerchief on cycling piano and bicycle bass, and roller-skating Flamingos. Taking Flight Theatre’s Anti Fun Ministry meanwhile will be patrolling the site to ensure compliance with their legislation.
Enjoy an incredible array of artisan food and drink at The Social and across the festival site and experience the stunning boutique camping area in Landpods, yurts, bell tents, tipis and vintage tents.
About the Festival
Just So is set in woodland clearings, rolling parkland, arboreal amphitheatres and lakeside spots in the Rode Hall Estate, Cheshire. It’s one of the most stunning landscapes in the UK, with limited public access the rest of the year. A not-for-profit arts festival, the ticket price includes all entertainment and programming across the festival site, with capacity capped at 5000 to ensure a magical, relaxing and safe environment for all.
Winners of Festival of the Year, Tourism Experience of the Year, Best Practice Award, Festival Kidz Gold Award, Inclusive Tourism Award and Attitude is Everything’s Gold Award, Just So Festival aims to create memories treasured by families year-round and has a pioneering approach to accessibility, enabling families with all needs and preferences to enjoy and participate together.
Rowan Hoban and Sarah Bird, Directors of Wild Rumpus who produce large scale immersive outdoor family arts events in natural landscapes, set up Just So Festival in 2009 to create a spellbinding weekend where families could step out of their day to day lives, be immersed in incredible stories and moments of wonder together, and experience world class, breathtaking outdoor arts.
They say “We love to plot and plan for the next Just So Festival just days after the last one, when our heads are still full of magic and ridiculousness – what better inspiration than our festival families whose phenomenal sense of tribal community knocks our socks off every year. We hunt high and low throughout the UK and beyond to find the very best performers and artists who we think can bring the festival to life. We love incorporating Just So traditions with new and exciting ground-breaking outdoor arts which we hope will create the most incredible memories. So roll on 2018 and in the words of the great Maurice Sendak ‘Let’s make mischief of one kind or another’.
Families planning to go to Just So 2018 are being advised to buy tickets earlier than usual this year, with tickets selling at a record rate for the 5000 capacity August event.
[box type=”info” align=”aligncenter” ]For information and tickets visit www.justsofestival.org.uk.[/box]
