Canterbury Festival Archive

A HUGE Thank You to all those who participated in the 2009 Festival, especially the participants and volunteers (and even the sunshine!) who all helped to make the Festival Carnival Parade such a great success this year.  Also a big thanks to the artists, volunteers and students at the Festival Fringe and the Lunchtime Concerts, the many winners of the Schools' Poetry Competition and reviewers for the Kentish Gazette, and the eloquent and entertaining schools' speakers in the first Festival Debate!

Hope to see you again soon in the new year!

The Festival Team

THE FESTIVAL CARNIVAL PARADE 2008

With so many amazing photos from the Carnival Parade, we couldn't resist showing you a selection here. 

We hope you enjoy them...

Waiting to Begin...

The Heart of the Parade - The School & Community Groups That Took Part

St Stephen's Junior School                                                         St Peter's Methodist Primary School

Sturry Primary School                                                                  Wincheap Primary School

The Orchard School Samba Band                                              Querns Road Community Centre/Petham Primary School

Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys                                 Barton Court Grammar School

Kingsmead Primary School/Northgate Community                   Chaucer College

Bringing the Beat - Music from Around the World

African Drummers                                                                         Whistable Samba Pela Mar

The Orchard School Samba Band/The Mardi Gras Band         The Orchard School Samba Band/The Mardi Gras Band

On the Move...

The Grand Finale at the Dane John Gardens

...And it All Ends with a Bang!

Want to get invoved in the Festival Carnival Parade 2010?

If you are a pupil or teacher at a school in East Kent, or are part of a local group or community who would like to take part in next year's Festival Carnival Parade - all you need is a bit of energy, lots of enthusiasm and dedication to taking part - please email the Parade co-ordinator Amanda McKean on amanda@canterburyfestival.co.uk or call the Festival Office on 01227 452853.

If you would like to be kept up to date with all the latest news on Festival projects especially for families and the community, please join our Canterberries Mailing List (see Youth and Community main page).

Canterbury Festival Young Critics 2009

A Midsummer Night's Dream by Footsbarn Theatre, Kingsmead

Footsbarn Theatre made its first appearance in the Canterbury Festival this year with its performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The stage was set in a beautiful, illuminated tent in a field near Kingsmead recreation centre. Performed five times, Footsbarn’s interpretation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream combined old Shakespearian language with modern day humour. While the set was fairly simple, the lighting, intricate costumes and music were in keeping with the time and theme and pulled the show together to create a stunning effect. The play told the story of two couples and a group of actors who happen to stumble across a fairy glade and with the help of a spell by Oberon, king of the fairies, confusion occurs and results in hilarious outcomes. Although the play was in Shakespearian language, the humour and decorative sets meant there was something in this for everyone. The cast was relatively small, however the actors played their roles with much enthusiasm which kept the action moving. Overall I think this was a graphic and beautiful interpretation of Shakespeare’s original play with attention to small details which added to the play as a whole and I would hope Footsbarn Theatre will return to Canterbury in the future.

Katharine Abbott - St Edmunds School Canterbury

The Symphony Orchestra of Albanian Radio Television, Canterbury Cathedral

In the late evening, under the roof of the towering Cathedral, Canterbury Festival’s final concert took place. Such a setting could not have seemed more perfect for the Symphony Orchestra of Albanian Radio Television; with its medieval architecture and haunting atmosphere that made the cameras and recording equipment seem of another era. The concert began with speeches from both the Lord Major of Canterbury and Deputy Prime Minister of Albania, beautifully portraying the cultural significance of an event that brought Albania and Britain together for more than just one evening. Following these, the orchestra took to the stage and, after a brief tuning check, opened with the epic Andante from the Symphony in B minor, by Limos Dizdari, dazzling all. Solo violinist and Best Classical Musician nominee in Albania, Alda Dizdari, performed with vivacity and precision, making it clear that she was more than worthy of her Leverhulme String Fellowship. At times, one could easily have believed that two violins were playing until a brief look at the orchestra proved that it was in fact, just the stunning violinist herself. Another delight in itself was the energy and passion with which conductor Nicholas Cleobury led the ensemble, injecting further life into the performance. All together, without a misplaced note, some of Albania’s finest musicians gave an emotive and awe-inspiring concert, helped endlessly by the astounding compositions that switched between crashing peaks to soft interludes seamlessly.

Rachel Johnson - St Edmunds School Canterbury

The Cardinall’s Musick, Canterbury Cathedral

The nave of Canterbury Cathedral was the setting for a time-travelling performance from the group Cardinall’s Musick, directed by Andrew Carwood. The performance got off to a flying start with a unique 15-minute version of The Magnificat and the group then sang through the years of King Henry Vll and his son, the infamous King Henry Vlll. After the interval, it was the turn of King Edward, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. All of the monarchs were introduced by flawlessly researched historical talks by the director Andrew Carwood, which really bought the music alive and put it into context, which was fantastic as it allowed the audience to understand why and how the music would have been written. While I was slightly apprehensive about going to watch a production on a topic I had no prior knowledge of, I was pleasantly surprised that this did not affect my enjoyment of the music at all. Because of the excellent introductory talks by the director, combined with the performers’ pure enthusiasm for their work, a great atmosphere was created and appreciated by the mostly adult audience, for whom it seemed to be intended.

Harriet Roe - Barton Court Grammar School

Ennio Marchetto, Marlowe Theatre

Fun, quirky and playful springs to mind with Ennio Marchetto’s original show made up of musical hits spanning decades with clever paper costumes that folded, rotated and flipped to transform him into different characters. The arts and crafts performer staged his show at the Marlowe Theatre. Marchetto mimed and danced along to familiar musical tracks with an outfit to suit. As the songs abruptly changed, so did his well designed cut-out costume contraptions and with comic effect. From Kylie to a snail, Edith Piaf to Freddy Mercury, the audience was enthralled by what would emerge next with the swift manipulation of colourful outfits and a unique use of double-sided tape to hold together his attire; for the first quarter at least. Capturing the imagination of adults and children alike, Marchetto attempted to recreate the wide-eyed awe shown by the audience in the first 15 minutes again and again, but the excitement ran dry after chewing the same flavour.

This original show would be good as an opening for richer entertainment; however the repetitions were met by cheering and eventually by applause lacking in enthusiasm. It had its moments, but overall the show managed to sustain the evening to feel like more than the scheduled hour.

Kevin Kendaru - Barton Court Grammar School

Michael Rosen, International Study Centre

Michael Rosen, author of bestselling books such as Wouldn’t You Like to Know and Centrally Heated Knickers, appeared in Canterbury to give a short talk about some of his work. The audience was mixed, with some very small children to older adults.

However, despite a varied age range Michael Rosen managed to keep everyone entertained, reading some of his poetry and getting the audience involved with sound effects and repeating some of his stories all together. Everyone seemed to warm to him, especially the younger people in the audience. Michael Rosen was very energetic and animated in the way he performed which was very appealing and I think what made him so enjoyable to watch. He took questions at the end and while most of them were from the younger people in the audience he answered them as well as he could. The talk gave everyone a look into some of his work while managing to be humorous and entertaining which is a talent not many people can boast of and I am sure he made a good impression on many of the people who came to his entertaining and witty talk.

Katharine Abbott- St Edmunds School Canterbury

The Rap Canterbury Tales, St Mary's Hall Studio Theatre, Northgate

Canadian hip hop and rap artist Dirk ‘Baba’ Brinkman performed as part of Canterbury Festival. A very intelligent man, Brinkman has numerous degrees in English and history, especially the late medieval/early Renaissance periods and his intelligence shows in his lyrics. In the show, Brinkman performed several pieces on his views of Britain as a foreigner, as well as some of his early work, in several different styles; spoken poetry, rapping to music as well as his own creation; lit-hop.

However, the main focus of the performance was his updated version of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, in this case, the stories of the Wife of Bath, the Pardoner and the Miller. The stories were very cleverly adapted and were performed as the character telling the story, with Brinkman convincingly getting into the mind-set of the character. He was once described as The Geoffrey Chaucer of hip-hop. I did not know quite what to expect when I went to watch the performance. I was apprehensive that it could be a cringy, wannabe rapper, desperate to be the new Kanye West or Eminen, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that this artist had decided to ‘think outside the box’ and provide us with a fresh look at the hip-hop genre. However, I feel that he was let down by the choice in location which resulted in a smaller audience than the performance deserved.

Harriet Roe - Barton Court Grammar School