NEWS FEED
This year’s Sting in the Tail festival takes you on a storytelling journey of pirates and princesses, railways and bicycles, and even introduces you to Jesse Owens and the Olympics.
The programme for the 2016 festival, which runs from 5 to 15 August in venues across Dorset, features a fantastic mix of events for all ages, kicking off on the eve of the Olympics with the ever popular Treehouse Theatre and Games of the Gods at Wimborne’s Allendale Centre.
Beowulf puppet at Priest’s House Museum on Saturday 6 August
This year’s festival also sees the performance debut for Beowulf and Grendel – two stunning puppets that play the key roles in a new family performance of the famous tale by Rattlebox Theatre. Catch these diminutive stars in the beautiful setting of the Priest’s House Museum Garden as part of the Museum’s Summer Fete – followed by a blend of stories in a ‘Stirabout of Tales’ – what better way to spend a summer afternoon.
Some familiar and much loved faces will return, with the wonderful Granny Cousins, taking those who are brave enough on her ghost walks in Poole, and Curly The Imaginician and friends will be bringing fun and laughter to Wimborne Model Town, following their highly successful visit there last year.
Thomas Hardy’s much-loved Tess of the d’Urbervilles is adapted as an open-air theatre production by SISATA, to be held in the peaceful setting of Edmondsham House. Four actors play multiple roles in an enigmatic and fast paced telling of this tale of virtue, love and injustice, but in true SISATA style there will still be fun, laughter and interaction.
Grendel puppet, from Beowulf, at Priest’s House Museum on Saturday 6 August
As the Rio Olympics hit our screens, bok Theatre tells the amazing story of Jesse Owens’ journey to becoming the first African-American to win four gold medals in a single Olympic Games, in Berlin during the Nazi Regime.
Sting in the Tale audiences can also enjoy memories of the Somerset and Dorset Railway Line, tales of life on the road as an RNLI lifeboat trainer, stories of incredible journeys, magical creatures, pirates, princesses and even the history of the creation of Rome.
To find out all that is on offer pick up a copy of the Festival Programme at Wimborne Tourist Information Centre, East Dorset Heritage Trust, the Allendale Centre and local libraries, or visit the website www.stinginthetale.org.uk.
Isabella’s Story Bicycle, stories from incredible journeys around the world, at Wimborne Town Centre and Model Town on Saturday 13 August
