You are invited to Ripon Theatre Festival’s biggest summer feast
🎭 Tonight (Friday 27 March) at the Arts Hub in Allhallowgate, Ripon Theatre Festival (RTF) will launch its biggest ever programme, promising a fabulous feast of entertainment for people of all ages this summer 🌞🎉
Firmly established as a key date in the region’s cultural calendar, the 2026 Festival — whose sponsors include Ripon BID — runs 5–12 July, with eight days and nights of performances and activities to mark a fifth‑birthday celebration of theatre in all its forms, from storytelling and puppetry to cabaret, Shakespeare and circus 🎪📚✨
🌟 Top Talent from Edinburgh & Beyond
RTF 2026 is thrilled to welcome hit shows from the Edinburgh Fringe, including Down to Chance, a fast‑paced thriller now touring nationwide, and Fringe favourites One Man Poe and The Poetical Life of Philomena McGuinness 🎭🔥
🎪 Quirky & Unique
Ripon Theatre Festival makes the most of the city’s unique venues and open spaces with pop‑up events showcasing theatre everywhere.
A knitting cabaret from Canada 🧶🇨🇦, a one‑man show about British pub life 🍺, walkabout acts, Pop‑up Puppetry, and Poetry for Breakfast ☕📜 are just some of the treats appearing in friendly cafés, pubs and independent shops. There’s even a show performed inside a vintage bus 🚌✨
👨👩👧 The Big Weekend for Families
Thanks to a second year of support from Arts Council England through the National Lottery, the Big Weekend of free family entertainment (11–12 July) is set to wow even larger audiences with high‑quality street arts and circus theatre from across the four nations and beyond.
Highlights include dance‑circus troupe Circo Rumbaba 💃🤹 and comedy, cooking and circus chaos with Do What Ya Mamma Told Ya 🍳🎪😂
❤️ Reaching Out to All the Community
In the months leading up to the Festival, activities in care homes will include Spiltmilk Dance 💗, “making and creating” sessions with learning‑disabled adults 🎨, and intergenerational music sessions 🎶 — ensuring the Festival reaches every corner of the community.
With a Schools’ Programme featuring Opera North’s Little Listeners 🎼 and the madcap Rubbish Shakespeare Company 🤪🎭, RTF is making sure it inspires all ages.
✍️ Supporting New Writing & Regional Talent
Established regional artists such as Victoria Firth from Huddersfield appear alongside up‑and‑coming talent including Constance Peel of Boston Spa, with her new play Service Please 🌱✨
Providing a platform for locally inspired works‑in‑progress, RTF also offers audiences the first chance to experience Outcast, exploring life in medieval Ripon 🏰, and Jord, which takes Mother Shipton as its starting point 🔮🌿
🌅 A Shakespeare Finale Under the Open Sky
Ripon Theatre Festival’s summer season culminates in a stunning open‑air Shakespeare finale with The Dukes Theatre Company’s Romeo & Juliet — a dramatic close to an action‑packed season 🌙🗡️🌹
🎉 A Milestone Year
Festival Director Katie Scott adds:
“Ripon Theatre Festival is celebrating a five‑year milestone birthday and we are proud of all that we have achieved so far.
Community‑led, but showcasing some of the best professional touring work alongside an inclusive and lively outdoor and family programme, the Festival is hugely valued for its variety and originality. We can’t wait to share our 2026 offering and bring the joy of live performance to an even wider audience.”
🎟️ All tickets on sale from Saturday 28 March.
For tickets, programme details and more information, visit Ripon Theatre Festival or follow us on Facebook or Instagram 📲✨
Some of this year’s and previous year’s performers.
