Last weekend, some of the PASS family headed down to the 29th annual Stockton International Riverside Festival (SIRF), in which Stockton-on-Tees is transformed into a hub of activity filled with thrilling street theatre, dynamic dancing, amazing acrobatics and the fantastically-colourful Community Carnival.

This year, the opening performance took place away from Stockton town centre in Preston Park. Attendees found themselves immersed in a barrage of light, sound and pyrotechnics in an eerie and thought-provoking portrayal of No-Man’s Land. The bombardment of live music, gongs, bells and human voice portrayed anti war rally cries alongside the horrors and loss that go hand in hand with war. It was hugely moving, making you wonder why we ever go to war in the first place.


Each audience member was given a figure of an injured soldier as they entered into no-man’s land

SIRF’s Community Carnival took us on a tour of weirdly wonderful and magically mythical lands; hundreds of local schools and community groups donned fantastic coloured costumes to bring Stockton highstreet to life, transforming it from a simple town into an exciting mish-mash of fantasy lands including Cloud Cuckoo Land, El Dorado, Olympus, Atlantis, Camelot and Shangri-La.

The SIRF Community Carnival is always a crowd pleaser, and this year was no exception. Thousands of people lined the streets of Stockton this year to watch hundreds of carnival participants (in their own amazing homemade costumes) dance, sing, drum, tumble or push their way along the parade route, travelling all the way from Stockton highstreet to the riverside.

You can tell lots of hard work and effort goes into making the SIRF Community Carnival the Greatest Show on Earth. Whether it be the adults of kids in their array of colourful costumes, the best part of the whole show as to be the smile on the face of everyone who attends. Adults, kids and even Poseidon, God of the Sea were beaming as they strutted their stuff down the street.

“It’s fantastic that Stockton families can come together and be a big part of SIRF. Stockton is a place to be proud of and SIRF shows how amazing our town can be with culture, creativity and community spirit." said Helen Maycroft, Team Leader at A Fairer Start Stockton.

As well as the home grown talent in the Community Carnival SIRF also brings together acts from across the globe in a plethora of performances from bluegrass to ballet, drama to dance.
Candoco Dance Company took us on an adventure through the ups and down of a relationship with an amazing dance routine made even more special by the fact that both dancers had disabilities.
15ft6 wowed the crowds death defying stunts performed alongside poetry and humour in their show Poetry & Dynamite.

Les Enfants Terribles took storytelling to a whole new level, with an amazing set that included a ship attached to a hot air balloon in a tale of Dr Latitude’s Fantastical Flying Exploratory Laboratory.

My personal favourite performance of this years SIRF has to be BLOCK by the collaboration of Motionhouse and NoFit State in which they used twenty oversized blocks to build shapes whilst telling the story of love, loss and friendship in a mix of dance and acrobatics before the blocks are used to create a huge tower in which the performers climb to soaring heights before the BLOCK comes crashing down.

Of course no SIRF would be complete without an amazing finale; in previous years we have had Trinity Green transformed into a Fire Garden and giant red giraffes parading around the town! This year saw the amazing Les Commandos Percu and their spectacular pyrotechnic display ‘Le Concert de Feu’ in which they married industrial sized percussion with sparks, culminating in an amazing firework display.

Hats off to Stockton Council and all those involved in SIRF - especially the Orange Army - who make the day run smoothly and put on a fantastic show for the North East every year!