Circus in the city!

Roll up, roll up! Pitch'd Circus and Street Arts Festival launched for the 8th year last week and continues until tomorrow, 29 August.

The festival opened with a visit from Lord Mayor Cllr Fergal Dennehy giving a heart-warming speech about the importance of the arts in our community. It was followed by the launch of our circus photo exhibition alongside a circus installation.

The launch was celebrated with a public fire show in Marina Park to an audience of more than 700 people. The show opened with music, song and dancing with fire.

One audience member said: “Wow - such talent, I had no idea. Folklore and dance also. What a treat on a balmy August evening.”

Throughout the event, we saw fire juggling, fire staff spinning, fire hula hoop and even choreographed group fire pieces. People sat along the tiered grass banks and even watched from behind the trees to get a good viewing point of the show. It was the first performance in this new space as a 360-degree show.

Following the family-friendly fun was a circus picnic at Elizabeth Fort. Filled with sunshine, circus workshops, and circus shows, kids and adults had a perfect day out. Those Two Idiots opened the show with hilarious buffoonery, battling their sides of an ideal beach day complete with acrobatics and music, followed by Moss Russell’s show about neurodivergency and stimming.

The main area saw the finale with Argentinian circus performer Circo Goyo juggling, unicycling and finding himself stuck in a giant yellow balloon. We also had a quiet space for those who needed a break throughout the day, with a chilled-out show by Peter Moran about a wobbly waiter and a cup of tea.

The weekend finale culminated in the Pitch’d Festival Gala in Circus Factory Cork. It featured local, national and international talent with Circus Factory’s Marketing Meg as MC also doubling as the Task Master, where the audience completed a series of tasks to win a bonus prize in the raffle. The talented line up included Sean Mcilraith, Lisa Wong, Niall Tuohy, Leah Aftab, Kate Mitchell, Edaein Samuels and Peter Moran (Those Two Idiots), Luc O' Rourke and Aleesha Weigandt, Abrakedavre, Jude O’ Neill and Circo Goyo.

The much-anticipated secret finale was revealed to be the Circus Factory Ensemble resurrecting a circus rendition of Cell Block Tango from popular music ‘Chicago’. At the end of the night, the audience was invited on the stage with the cast and crew for a dance party to the song ‘The Spark’ by Kabin Crew.

The final week of Pitch’d Festival featured a circus club where adults came to try circus for themselves on Monday and Tuesday. International dance and circus company Kundle Cru took to The Everyman stage on Wednesday.

For the remainder of the festival, there will be an industry for the arts event, hosting discussions and networking, today, 28 August, and an emerging artist night for up and coming talent, also taking place today.

The finale of Pitch'd Festival will wrap with an eye to the future with a scratch night. The audience will be treated to a selection of new and experimental work by local artists with the option of shaping the future of the work by giving feedback.

The Cork Independent are proud media sponsors. Pitch’d Festival runs until 29 August. See circusfactorycork.com for more.