Special Features - Something for everyone at the Belfast Festival

Poster for Macbeth which is being performed at this year's Belfast Festival in the former Crumlin Road gaol. (c) Belfast Festival

Something for everyone at the Belfast Festival
(09/10/07)

A troupe of performing fleas, Macbeth performed in a former gaol, stand-up comedy, cabaret, dance and new paintings are all part of the Belfast Festival in Northern Ireland which runs from 19 October to 4 November.

For 16 packed festival days and nights, international artists and events from countries including Sweden, Poland, India, Australia and South Africa, will entertain audiences in venues across the city.

Comedy programme

Magners Cider has sponsored this year's comedy programme which will see performances from Bill Bailey, Frank Skinner, Sean Hughes and Grumpy Old Women Live (Dillie Keane, Britt Eckland and Denise Black), amongst others.

Movie legends

To mark the centenary of screen legends John Wayne and Laurence Olivier, the Queen's Film Theatre will be showing some of their most famous movies.

The Olivier season includes Hamlet, Henry V and Wuthering Heights and John Wayne fans can enjoy The Searchers, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and probably the most famous western ever made, Stagecoach, directed by the renowned John Ford.

Music of all kinds

Music of all kinds - jazz, folk, blues, electronic and dance - will be performed by many musicians and bands including the Blind Boys of Alabama, the Frames, John Prine and Mose Allison.

There will be several talks from well-known writers and broadcasters about their trade, including best-selling crime novelist, Alexander McCall Smith, and South Pole explorer and writer, Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

The Flea Pit: a show starring performing fleas at the Belfast Festival which has dazzled auidences in the US and Europe. (c) Belfast Festival

Potted Potter

And fans will certainly want to get to Potted Potter, a whistle stop tour of all the Harry Potter books in just 60 minutes, featuring BBC Blue Peter storytellers Dan and Jeff.

Flea Pit

Children of all ages will enjoy the smallest show on earth, The Flea Pit, presented by theatre company Cahoots NI. According to Cahoots these magnificent creatures "have performed across the USA and Europe, dazzling audiences with incredible feats of mind-reading, weight-lifting, trapeze and high-wire".

The show will be presented in what the company describes as a unique, purpose-built miniature theatre holding just 15 people.

There is something for everyone at this year's festival so why not get booking now. Events can be booked on the telephone, in person and online so check the Belfast Festival website for details.

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