Show & artist information

Activity Zone Free Workshops with Local Artists

Mablethorpe Friday 19 August 12:30pm3:30pm Sherwood Fields

Celebrating the local community!

As well as a host of performances from inspiring, international artists, SO will also be bringing our interactive Activity Zone back to Mablethorpe!

Expect free workshops and demonstrations from some of the county’s most talented creatives, including aerial performance with Freestyle Fitness and seated dance with Jelly Belly.

Light refreshments will be available throughout the day from the Clubhouse, home of Mablethorpe Football Club.

Activity Zone & Community Stage Free Workshops & Local Performances

Skegness Saturday 20 August Skegness Sunday 21 August 11:00am6:00pm 11.30am5.30pm Activity Zone

Activity Zone

Experience some of the best local talent and see the stars of the future – from singer-songwriters and street dancers, to aerial acrobats and acting troupes – showcasing their skills on the Community Stage throughout SO Festival weekend!

In between performances, why not take part in one of our free, Creative Workshops facilitated by local artists, crack out your signature moves at the Silent Disco or simply relax and take in the festival atmosphere in our comfy Community space?

The Rascally Diner LAStheatre

Skegness Saturday 20 August Skegness Sunday 21 August 11.15am & 3.15pm 11.45am & 4pm Tower Gardens Spot 4 Tower Gardens Spot 4

Everybody clap your pans – it’s time for The Rascally Diner!

Cook up a stink as part of Rufus Skumskins O’Parsley’s kitchen crew or bring a pot to bang and ward off evil cakes in this fun-filled, messy performance about food.

Chef Rufus Skumskins O’Parsley is famous for creating some of the world’s most disgusting dishes. You might know him from the awardwinning children’s book ‘The Rascally Cake’, written by Jeanne Willis and Korky Paul.

Join award winning LAStheatre for a riotous and ridiculous, outdoor, family performance for everyone aged 5+

This production is supported by Without Walls and commissioned by Just So Festival. Created with support from Arts Council England and artsdepot. Image by Alex Brenner.

Photo Credit: Pamela Raith

The Tide Talawa Theatre Company

Skegness Saturday 20 August Skegness Sunday 21 August 12:00pm-3:00pmTower Esplanade

11:15am-2:15pm Tower Esplanade

Holding a mirror to an evolving British culture, The Tide incorporates live music and moving explorations of the experiences of new arrivals in the UK as they navigate a new land. Cameron and Hackett’s multi-disciplinary production examines migration through an abstract and visually exciting lens, following stories of arrival, welcome, rejection and exclusion.

The Tide is supported by Without Walls & was commissioned by Brighton Festival & Greenwich+Docklands International Festival.

Very Lost Les Etablissements Lafaille

Skegness Saturday 20 August Skegness Sunday 21 August 12:45pm & 2:15pm 12:45pm & 2:30pm Promenade & Tower Esplanade Promenade

The “very dangerous” trip of two very, very lost British explorers. A wild saga in the heart of public space among unsurmountable bushes, bus shelters, poles, benches and other precipices. A vertical visit of the street, changing it into a landscape in an improbable way. A duo influenced by the imaging and language of Chaplin and Lloyd’s silent movies. Our two explorers are neither at the right place, nor at the proper time.

Frock Stopgap Dance Company

Skegness Saturday 20 August Skegness Sunday 21 August 1.30pm & 4.30pm 12.45pm & 3.45pm Tower Esplanade Tower Esplanade

Six striking dancers collide in an uplifting dance riot set to a brand new art rock soundtrack by Hannah Miller and Oli Austin of Moulettes. In this quirky new dance piece, watch playful observations of the yesteryears explode into a ‘punkish’ celebration of individuality and difference. Stopgap Dance Company is driven by a diverse creative team who uses dance as a movement for change. Their vision is to create an inclusive world where diversity is not just accepted but pursued, a world where no one is limited by prejudice against D/deaf, disabled, or neurodiverse people. Commissioned and supported by Without Walls, Arts Council England, Salisbury Festival, Hat Fair Festival and Stockton International Riverside Festival, with Norfolk & Norwich Festival being its premiere partner.

Generations Desperate Men

Mablethorpe Friday 19 August Skegness Saturday 20 August Skegness Sunday 21 August 1:15pm Sherwood Fields

2:30pm & 5:45pm 12:45pm & 3:15pm Tower Gardens Spot 1 Tower Gardens Spot 1

42 years in the making, this new outdoor show represents Desperate Men handing over to the next generation. However, they are not going out quietly. Featuring the intergenerational views of people from Skegness & Mablethorpe, ‘Generations’ is a performance that asks: are young people only here to serve the healthcare & pensions of the elderly? Or are generational distinctions evaporating as Boomers keep working longer and act as support for young families?

The Invisible Man Altered States

Mablethorpe Friday 19 August Skegness Sunday 21 August 12:15pm & 3:30pm 11:30am & 1:30pm

Introducing The Invisible Man.

Sherwood Fields Tower Esplanade

Come face to face with the man who isn’t there, a living, breathing science experiment gone wrong. Witness the scientific marvel and learn more about how he came to (not) be as he explores his environment. Be warned you may see more (or less) than you bargained for! Supported and co-commissioned by Without Walls, Salisbury International Arts Festival (part of Wiltshire Creative) and Stockton International Riverside Festival (SIRF).

Robot Selfie Kaleider

Skegness Thursday 18 - Saturday 30 August All Day RNLI

Robot Selfie is a huge, colourful mural of people’s faces, spray painted by a robot.

Kaleider crowdsources hundreds of faces through an online platform, where people can be drawn by a non-learning AI. Then, a robot paints the faces next to each other on a giant canvas: strangers occupying public space in an act of solidarity. In this collaboration between audience, AI, artist, and robot, each party has agency to make choices. The anarchy in the automation makes it an exciting game of consequences, a mix of poetry and chaos. For live updates on the day, follow: #PaintedByARobot #RobotSelfieSkegness @kaleider This performance is being delivered in partnership with Visit Lincs Coast DBID.

Photo Credit: Soren Meisner

Jekyll On Ice Paolo Nani Teater

Mablethorpe Friday 19 August Skegness Saturday 20 August Skegness Sunday 21 August 2:30pm Sherwood Fields

12:45pm Tower Gardens Spot 2 1:30pm Tower Gardens Spot 2 Paolo Nani’s round, lovable figure, Jekyll, is an ice cream vendor, with his very own way of doing business. The ice cream might melt and the air leak out of the balloons despite his attempts to prevent it – however, the audience is guaranteed plenty of surprises and laughter. As a dramatic, hilarious series of events takes place, witness the playful way in which Paolo interacts with you, the audience.

The Visionary Jon Hicks

Mablethorpe Friday 19 August Skegness Saturday 20 August Skegness Sunday 21 August 4:30pm Sherwood Fields

1:45pm & 5:00pm 11:00am & 2:30pm

Tower Gardens Spot 3 Tower Gardens Spot 3

Fantastical Wisdom & Mystical Powers from Beyond Knowledge

Come and meet ‘The Visionary’: a faith free, street prophet, mystic, psychic sorcerer, who is said to have wisdom beyond knowledge. Watch him reveal his increasingly miraculous powers in a show that involves communities and plays with realities. The latest creation of Jon Hicks & Matt Rudkin, this ‘happening’ will deliver some magical, funny & thought-provoking moments.

Mayfly Kapow

Skegness Saturday 20 August Skegness Sunday 21 August 12.45pm & 3.45pm 12pm & 3pm Compass Gardens Compass Gardens

Mayfly is a spectacular fusion of water, dance, and song.

A poetic story exploring the fleeting, ephemeral nature of life and how our survival is inextricably linked to our environment.

The stage will come to life with water effects and leaping fountains. The fountains provide numerous metaphors, representing obstacles in our lives, the ever-changing landscape in which we all live, that nothing stays the same, that we can stand up, overcome and create change.

Together we witness this world and the characters within it transform, the effect rippling out to be shared by all.

Mayfly is supported by Without Walls and commissioned by Stockton International Riverside Festival and Timber Festival.

Glock & Beretta: How? Why? What? Whalley Range All Stars

Mablethorpe Friday 19 August Skegness Saturday 20 August 12:00pm & 4:00pm 11:00am & 2:45pm Sherwood Fields

Tower Gardens Spot 7

Glock & Beretta: How? Why? What? is the latest kamishibai* story from Whalley Range All Stars.

Using 78 full colour A3 sized drawings, it tells the tale of 2 destructive children, a blooming garden, a disappearing flock of household pets, dogged journalists, an empty town and much more besides. Come along, sit back and enjoy the many twists and turns of this shaggy dog story.

*kamishibai is a Japanese word for paper theatre.

Photo Credit: Piotr Chlipalski

The Yelling Kitchen Prince Bram Graafland

Mablethorpe Friday 19 August Skegness Saturday 30 August 12:45pm Sherwood Fields

12:15pm & 4:30pm Tower Gardens Spot 5

In this award-winning show, The Yelling Kitchen Prince’s instrument of choice is his unique, all-in-one ‘Kitchen Organ Drumset’.

Cooking, playing the organ and drumming at the same time ... a piece of cake!

This fiery, floury, physical show has captivated nearly 600 audiences in 26 different countries, spinning frantically between being theatre, a circus act & a musical!

LA PARTIDA Vero Cendoya Dance CO.

Skegness Saturday 20 August 6.30pm Tower Gardens Spot 2

5 dancers and 5 players. A football field. A referee. Gathered in a peculiar game with its own rules.

In a continent invaded by football it is impossible to live apart from it. This time, instead of fighting against our adversary, we join it.

LA PARTIDA is a show of dance and football, created by choreographer VERO CENDOYA.

The company continues in her efforts to combine contemporary dance with the antagonistic, and this time confronts the “spectacle” of football in an award-winning performance.

In 2008, Vero Cendoya - a choreographer, interpreter, teacher, painter and illustrator - created her own dance-theatre company, Vero Cendoya Dance CO., which is characterized by collaboration with artists from different disciplines. Her acclaimed shows have been presented in countless theatres and festivals.

Photo Credit: Scot Murray

The Forum Zest Theatre

Skegness Saturday 20 August Skegness Sunday 21 August 12:00pm6:00pm 11:00am5:00pm Tower Gardens Spot 6 Tower Gardens Spot 6

Welcome to The Forum. Come in and take a seat.

Fuelled by the inspirational words of Lincolnshire’s young people, The Forum is a pop-up town square, colourfully created to gather people of all ages in the heart of their community. Touring Lincolnshire this summer, The Forum is a space to think, discuss ideas, and imagine the future of this county, inspired by the next generation. The Forum was commissioned by Lincolnshire County Council.

Project Radio County Care

Skegness Sunday 21 August All Day Live from Tower Gardens

Project Radio is County Care’s community radio station, that provides people with learning difficulties, autism & mental health the opportunity to grow self-confidence skills, as well as vocational skills such as:

Live Hosting and Presenting Interviewing guest speakers and bands Creating music playlists & Planning Shows

The talented team will be broadcasting live from Tower Gardens, interviewing audience members and talking about their favourite performances. They will also have a photo booth, SO get a snap for your scrapbook!

SO, Let’s Talk

New to the SO Festival programme for 2022, meet like minds from across the globe, experience fresh perspectives and be at the heart of creative change at our series of discussions.

SO Many Roads | International Discussion uniting UK, DK, SE & AT

Saturday 20 August, 10:00am – 11.30am Upstairs at The Embassy Theatre SO Festival invites artists, creators, performers and everyone with an interest in culture, to join our UK Festival team and international partners for a conversation about the ideas and aims of cultural delivery models in different countries and their impact on communities.

Saturday 20 August, 3:30pm - 4:30pm Tower Gardens, Creatives’ Corner Local creatives – we’re back with a fresh opportunity for you to connect, collaborate and create! Whether you’re a budding young artist, talented performer or experienced theatre director, head to Creatives’ Corner to meet like minds, share your thoughts on this year’s programme and get SOcial.

OutdoorArtsUK On The Road | Discussion: The Democratic Outdoors

Sunday 21 August, 10:00am – 11:30am Upstairs at The Embassy Theatre OutdoorArtsUK joins the SO Festival team for an informal discussion and reflection on the work of the outdoor arts sector and how it can unite and inspire communities in creative decisions.

The SOcial | Co-creation with the Next Generation

Sunday 21 August, 1:30pm - 2:30pm Tower Gardens Visit ‘The Forum’ by Zest Theatre from 11am to receive a provocation and ponder ‘How does this challenge my current work & creative process?’, ‘How could I co-create with the next generation?’. Then join fellow forward thinkers in Creatives’ Corner to share your thoughts and ideas. Find full ‘SO, Let’s Talk’ details on the SO Festival website:

sofestival.org/so-festival-2022-programme-so-lets-talk/

Or simply scan this QR code!