Salisbury International Festival programme announced

Tuesday, 12 March 2024 00:00

Wiltshire Creative has announced the lineup for Salisbury International Arts Festival 2024.

The annual arts festival, founded in 1974, returns from Sunday, 26th May, to Sunday, 9th June 2024, with a variety of performances and events for the local community.

Artistic Director of Wiltshire Creative Gareth Machin said today: “The Salisbury International Arts Festival lies at the epicentre of our programming, and we’re proud to bring a wealth of talent to the region with a diversity of programming for all. This year’s Wiltshire Creative’s summer season is no different, and offers a breadth of programming from spoken word, music, circus and dance events right in the heart of Salisbury. We’re bringing back the popular City Encounters, an event which not only brings the community together but showcases the wonderful talent we have in the town. It’s set to be a summer to remember!”

Highlights of this year’s Salisbury International Arts Festival include:

The return of City Encounters, the free community lead event brought to the streets of Salisbury which kicks off with Patch’s Parade on Sunday 26 May Festival favourites The Lord Chamberlain’s Men return in their outdoor, all-male production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet at Rack Close on 7 and 8 June Spoken word from Anthony Horowitz, David Baddiel, Juliet Stevenson and more. TESS by Ockham’s Razor, the groundbreaking circus adaption of Thomas Hardy’s classic novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles on 5 June The Best of Gilbert and Sullivan from the principal singers of the National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company on 30 May

Salisbury International Arts Festival includes a range of music events for the whole family to enjoy, including With The Rolling Stones, celebrating the 60th anniversary of The Rolling Stones’ performance at Salisbury City Hall in 1964 in collaboration with Salisbury History Festival.

Tiny Violins

BBC Radio 2 and Jazz FM broadcaster will return to the Playhouse with The Clare Teal Seven; as well as Red Sky at Sunrise: Laurie Lee in Words and Music where Orchestra of the Swan’s music echoes his own lyrical words by Anton Lesser and Charlie Hamblett, with English folk, hip-hop, indie and Midwest emo brought to the stage by Tiny Violins.

Punt & Dennis (Image: Matt Stronge)

The festival season will also see the Playhouse host the laugh-out-loud shows, Punt & Dennis on 1 June and Ruby Wax: I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Was on 6 June. Lîla Dance will grace the Salisbury Arts Centre with Fault Lines, the stunning dance which integrates immersive digital imagery, evocative writing and cinematic music on 29 May.

The festival offers a range of family friendly events including Long Nose Puppets production of Out Of The Hat! magic show, where children can meet puppets Doris and Deliah after the show. Children can get involved in the live, interactive show Claytime where they get to mould the story. As well as celebrating music and songs from around the world with BAM: Babies’ Adventures in Music.