Unexpected 2013 is Exeter’s Family Fun Festival
- Family Funday on the Quayside (15 Sept), sampling the thrills and spills of Circus Sunday (22 Sept),
- Seeing the World Premiere Festival Close (22 Sept, see Extraordinary Bodies ‘Weighting’ below. Major Arts Council commission. Professional performers of every age/body type, including dancer Dave Toole who flew across the Olympic stadium in the Paralympic opening ceremony),
- Getting a sneak-peek of the public/private city from the swish of a resident’s curtain (This City Centre, 17-21 Sept),
- Made to laugh by the Public Transport Appreciation Society who promote happy travel on public transport, major laughs & giggles throughout the Festival week, or
- Jumping in the pool for an incredible underwater listening experience. The swimming pool is transformed with light and sound while Joel Cahen plays a surreal sound scape through underwater and over water speakers. Bring goggles and swimsuit (Sat 21 Sept).
These are just five of the major Festival events taking place in Exeter from 15 to 22 September 2014.
Festival Programme
The programme has been chosen to appeal to audiences both young and old, families as well as those interested in specialist artforms. There is a range of free and affordably ticketed events from large scale outdoor work, pop-up happenings, to small intimate site specific building based work supporting all artforms.
Exeter’s Unexpected 2013 Festival sets its sights squarely on pulling surprises where least anticipated. Supported by Exeter City Council working in partnership across the city, this new Festival for Exeter has three purposes: taking art and performance out of traditional venues into thrilling, unexpected indoor/outdoor locations, nurturing exciting regional talent, and enhancing the city as the cultural hub for the South West.
Cllr Rosie Denham, Exeter City Council, said, ‘This Arts Council England Grant is fantastic news for the people of Exeter and visitors drawn to the city. Running over 8 packed days – Unexpected 2013 is a crucial incubator supporting emerging regional talent, that commissions dramatic new projects and brings artists of international acclaim, such as Extraordinary Bodies, to Exeter.’
Festival Highlights
Sunday 15 September Family Funday, Exeter Quay and Piazza Terracina
12 noon to 8.30 pm
Try out sports, listen to music, enjoy the many quayside bars and restaurants and see the firework display over the water in the evening.
Monday 16 – Sunday 22 September
All week long there will be things to see and do – it might be on your bus to or from work, and you will definitely find things popping up in and around the shopping centres, or at the bus stops – music, performances, a cinema under the stars, optical illusions and visual tricks!
Friday 20 September
Expect entertainment before and after the Tour of Britain comes racing through the City Centre on Friday, and then in the evening ponder the last words of the famous and not so famous at The Last Supper, in the Guildhall, one of Exeter’s oldest buildings.
Saturday 21 September
Be amazed at the underwater listening experience in the Pyramids – you will need goggles and a swim suit – or another chance to see The Last Supper.
Sunday 22 September
Circus Sunday
Free events take place across the city centre from 12 noon onwards with a focus on contemporary circus. There will be something for all ages, plenty to watch and to do.
At 5pm a brand new show, our finale performance, the premiere of the UK’s first fully integrated circus company, Extraordinary Bodies. See people fly high over Cathedral Green, together with the involvement of a mass Exeter Choir, as Circus Sunday and Unexpected 2013 draw to a close.
With its World Première in Exeter, ‘Weighting’, is an electrifying outdoor show, in which extraordinary performers take to the air in a joyful exploration of equilibrium and balance.
Extraordinary Bodies’ Artistic Directors, Billy Alwen and Claire Hodgson, said of the piece, ‘This show will make you think afresh about what we all might be capable of.’
Get to Exeter this month and enjoy Unexpeted 2013