Hats off to Winchester fair

Hat Fair, Winchester, the UK’s longest running and most exciting Street Theatre Festival, has announced the dates for this year’s 35^th event – Thursday 2 July to Sunday 5 July 2009.

As ever, Hat Fair will continue to uphold its reputation for presenting innovative and beautiful outdoor performances, exciting, unique and highly skilled small-scale shows and an engaging programme of community arts and education, woven into the heart of the beautiful city of Winchester.

This year’s Hat Fair will offer four fun-filled days and will be jam-packed with hundreds of breathtaking performances from over 40 national and international companies taking place throughout Winchester’s ancient streets.   In a credit crunch world, Hat Fair doesn’t charge the audience a penny for all but one performance – the evening cabaret.  The rest are free to view for all, though donations are welcome.

Named after the tradition of throwing donations into performers’ hats, Hat Fair started as a buskers’ festival in 1974. Now, 35 years later, its evolution has been fascinating and is now bigger and better than ever before.

The 2009 programme is both explosive and inspirational, featuring artists from all over the globe, including England, Wales, Ireland, Australia, Spain, Canada, New Zealand and America.

Special highlights on the small scale line-up this year include the Incredible talents of Los Dos Play, Mario Queen of The Circus and Orkestra Del Sol and many more circle acts that you will not have seen the likes of before. Over the weekend there will be some wonderful and interactive Installations around the town, Cathedral Green and Close including, The Insect Circus Museum, The Amazing Camera Obscura and Bootworks new show, ‘Little Box of Horrors’ to name but a few. Look out for Close Acts breathtaking show ‘Saurus’, the wonderful Flying Buttresses and the return of Winchester favourites ‘Heliosphere’ on Saturday evening as well as many other festival favourites.

In addition, the programme includes innovative community and education projects including Inside Out Day on Thursday, involving a procession through the city, where local school children knock on the doors of civic buildings, asking senior representatives of the City any questions they wish.

Friday is traditionally Schools Day with a colourful procession of over 1000 children in costume with music and dance, culminating in outdoor theatre, circus and craft workshops in the grounds of the city’s famous cathedral.

Sian Thomas, Artistic Director of Celebrations, commented ‘I am really looking forward to the Hat Fair Festival this year.  As the City puts on its celebratory hat, we’ll have many great new shows from artists across the nation, as well as from all over the World’.