NEWS / Greenwich+Docklands International Festival (GDIF) 2023

Greenwich+Docklands International Festival (GDIF) 2023 will take place between Friday 25 August and Sunday 10 September in various locations in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, East London and the City of London. According to Bradley Hemmings MBE, GDIF Artistic Director this year’s festival theme is “Acts of Hope”.

Greenwich+Docklands International Festival (GDIF) 2023. However, what I think is so very pleasing is that the new programme of activities is FREE with theatre and performing spaces created across a range of iconic city sites.

The centerpiece of the festival will be the world premiere of The Architect, specially commissioned for the festival. The audiences will be invited to board a London bus and will be taken on a journey infused with the experiences of Black Londoners across the three decades since the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993.The Actors Touring Company production was conceived by Matthew Xia (Hey Duggee), Roy and Alfred Fagon (Family Tree) and creatively explored by Bola Agbaje, Dexter Flanders, Vanessa Macauley and XANA. This co-production is presented in support of the Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation.

Jessica Neil, Chief Executive of the Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation said today: “Stories have the power to inspire ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things. The deeply personal individual experiences of people from marginalised communities, paint a picture of our remarkable collective contributions to British society, and of how far we still have to travel”.

Also included in the festival will be a range of innovative productions and spectacle like Cygnus, a poetic light installation in London for the first time and The Air Between Us by disabled artist Rodney Bell and dancer/choreographer Chloe Loftus and there will also be an intergalactic Afrofuturist party that blends circus, music and dance. Inspired by West African folklore, along with a range of original installations – some using shipping containers.

There will be lots to do ad see for all the family and for all communities – sounds exciting and worth go along to.

Author: Paul HegartyPaul is a reviewer and an experienced actor who has performed extensively in the West End (Olivier nominated) and has worked in TV, radio and a range of provincial theatres. He is also a speech, drama and communications examiner for Trinity College London, having directed productions for both students and professionals and if not busy with all that he is then a teacher of English.