Belfast Festival at Queen’s has come around again and is a festival with one of the most varied and accomplished line ups, whilst still securing premieres, global acts and local acts alike. There is also a lot of acts, A LOT OF ACTS, so i took me a while to trawl through them and pick what i feel are the Top 10. I still encourage you to have a look through yourself, but this will give you a varied flavour of whats on offer.
The Holy Holy Bus (World Premiere)
BITTERSWEET BELFAST COMEDY
There is a pilgrimage that leaves a West Belfast parish once a year to tour the holy sites of Ireland. The local parishioners call it, ‘The Holy Holy Bus’.
Over seven hectic days, follow four of the faithful females on their personal journeys (warts and all), as they embark on this hilariously madcap adventure which will change all of their lives forever.
Hannavas Free family event (Northern Irish Premiere)
THE AFRICAN SAVANNAH COMES TO BELFAST
Meet Twiga the Giraffe with her daughter Sambah and Tembo the Elephant with her calf Tembito.
Enter into the lives of these great, large-scale, mechanical, African mammals, each with a personality all of their own, and join them as they discover a very different Savannah in Belfast.
MUSIC CLUB: Tamikrest (Irish Premiere)
INTOXICATING SAHARAN DESERT BLUES
Winner of The Songlines Music Awards 2014 in the category ‘Best Group’, Tamikrest are one of the best known bands in the Saharan desert blues idiom.
Tamikrest represent a new wave of Tuareg musicians with lyrics that deal with a youth without future, a loss of culture, but also about the love of life and for the vast expanse of their home the Sahara.
Big Big Sing Day
Sing Commonwealth style in a fun-filled afternoon.
Do you love to sing? In the shower? In a choir? In your head so no-one can hear? The Big Big Sing is for YOU!
Join the crowd for an afternoon of song and fun, including lively workshops with the inspirational choir leaders Eugene Skeef and Stephen Deazley who will have you singing Commonwealth style with brilliant sounds and rhythms from Africa, the Caribbean, India…
Schaubühne Berlin – An Enemy Of The People (Irish Premiere)
Schaubühne Berlin, the prestigious German theatre and one of Europe’s leading theatre companies will make its NI debut at the Grand Opera House as part of the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen’s.This bold new adaptation is directed by one of the leading voices in contemporary theatre, Thomas Ostermeier, against a global backdrop of spreading immigration panics, environmental and financial crises.
