HUNDREDS of people flocked to Newport’s Big Splash festival for its first day.
The event – which is now in its seventh year – kicked off in the city centre with a variety of pop-up street acts, dancing and music.
More than 20 top-class performing companies from across the UK and beyond are bringing more than 50 free street theatre shows to the city centre, from circus, slapstick, dance, and fantastic walkabouts.
Alongside Newport performance act Mr and Mrs Clark, performers include Cirque du Kaka, Puppets with Guts and Kapow Dance are performing at six main Big Splash zones of entertainment in five locations: The Riverfront Theatre and Arts Centre, Friars Walk, Kingsway Shopping Centre, Newport Now zone along Commercial Street and the river walkway between the university and The Wave.
Gillian Mitchell, head of Theatre Arts & Culture for Newport Live said: “The Big Splash Festival has been helping to attract new visitors to Newport City Centre for many years and we are delighted to include Newport Now as a new partner.
"Each year the festival entertains thousands of people for free, bringing lots of weird, wonderful and high-quality performances to catch you when you least expect it.”
Thanks to funding from Newport Live, Newport City Council and the Arts Council of Wales and sponsorship from Friars Walk, Kingsway Centre, Newport NOW and Western Power Distribution, the family street theatre festival returned for another year.
One of the first performances to kick off Saturday in Friars Walk was the Taking Flight Theatre Company – a company which work with disabled or sensory impaired actors as well as non-disabled actors.
The group’s performance ‘Scenes from a Suitcase’ saw the actors look into a pile of old suitcases to find out what mystery items could be in there.
Axelina Heagley, of Taking Flight, said: “We work inclusively and believe that everyone should be able to access everything on stage. We aim to do festival pieces that anybody can take part in and anybody can watch.”
For more information about Big Splash visit bigsplashnewport.com
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