Hightide comes to town -- but only for another year

Hightide can barely squeeze into the Town Centre so once Capital & Regional start work in 2020 to wreck the Town Centre there will be no chance of them coming back to Walthamstow. How can Cllr Coghill believe this will benefit the residents of Waltham Forest?

Help Save our Square by donating to our fighting fund

Hightide

HIGHTIDE ANNOUNCES FURTHER PLANS FOR ITS SECOND WALTHAMSTOW FESTIVAL

• HIGHTIDE FESTIVAL OF THEATRE, COMEDY, LIVE MUSIC AND LOCAL PERFORMANCE RETURNS TO WALTHAMSTOW FOR THE SECOND YEAR RUNNING FROM 18-30 SEPTEMBER

• THE FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES A LINE UP OF LOCAL VENDORS AND PERFORMERS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR RESIDENTS TO GET INVOLVED FOR 2018

HighTide, one of the UK’s most prominent arts festivals, will return to Walthamstow from 18-30 September this year, bringing a diverse programme of theatre, comedy, music, and work for children and their families. This will be the second outing for HighTide Festival in Walthamstow, following a successful year in 2017. The Festival will once again be primarily based in a unique pop-up Festival site situated in Walthamstow Town Square Gardens.

The Festival site will be free to enter, and will feature a large bar and dining area housed in two giant heated tipis, featuring pieces on loan from God’s Own Junkyard, the legendary Walthamstow wonderland of new and used neon fantasies, salvaged signs, reclaimed neon, old movie props and retro displays, alongside retro pinball machines and cosy furniture.

The bar will be a collaboration between local and national companies with beer and cider provided by Walthamstow breweries Pillars and The Real AL Company, as well as spirits from Hunters Gin and soft drinks and mixers from Peter Spanton. There will also be coffee served by local companyVelopresso from their trademark pedal-powered coffee trike, who will be serving signature blends from leading Waltham Forest coffee company Perky Blenders.

An array of food traders from the local area and further afield will be on-site throughout the Festival, including specialty sausages and vegan dogs byWalthamstow Dogs, Vietnamese street food from Hanoi Câ Phè and Mexican street food from Wood Street’s Homies on Donkeys. At weekends vintage ice creams and retro ice lollies will be served up by Wendy’s Vintage Ices, and Romeo’s Sugar Free Bakery, soon to open an outlet in Walthamstow, will provide their trademark sugar-free cakes and biscuits, along with a wide range of baked goods and snacks.

The Festival will be supporting a host of local talent, inviting them to feature in the Festival after taking part in Open Mic nights in Waltham Forest on 4^th, 5^th and 6^th September. The Open Mic nights will be free to enter and attend, and winners will perform in the Festival bar in the evenings, providing free entertainment. Performers aged 18-25 will also be considered for HighTide’s brand new talent showcase, Stars Over the Forest, at the Festival on 22 September.

The ticketed Festival programme includes eleven family shows including local company Baby Panda presenting Five Little Monkeys. Visiting companies include HighRise Theatre with Lil.Miss.Lady, exploring the history of Grime, and Waltham Forest company Stand and Be Counted presenting Where We Began, featuring an international cast exploring notions of home, alongside several more first commissions and readings. The comedy programme’s highlights will include Tim Key’s Megadate and there will also be gigs from artists including Arthur Darvill.

The Festival programme also includes the arrival of five productions fresh from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. HighTide’s centrepiece production, co-produced with their associate company DugOut Theatre, is a song-laced coming of age tale by Aldeburgh-based writer Tallulah Brown calledSonglines (rides a wave of gentleness and compassion for teenage awkwardness ****, FEST MAGAZINE) and features live folk music from the award-winning band TRILLS, who will also perform a one-off gig following the performance on Sunday 23^rd.  HighTide’s associate productions selected through an open script submission process are: Sparks; Jessica Butcher’s two-hander musical about the brain's response to grief (One of the most fascinating shows at the Fringe this year *****, MUSICAL THEATRE REVIEW); Danusia Samal’s gig-theatre piece Busking It, drawing on a decade of busking on the tube (A moving show, a beautiful story, A YOUNGER THEATRE) ; The Extinction Event from David Aula and Simon Evans an examination of what happens when science starts thinking for itself (bewildering, baffling, brilliant ****, THE STAGE); and finally, Harry Blake’s fierce, fabulous new comedy musical about Norse gods Thor and Loki (Crowd teasing, crowd pleasing, spectacular theatre at its very best*****, THE MUMBLE).