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Magma takes a walk down
Rochester High Street

Medway's Fuse Festival has begun - promising a packed programme
of arts and entertainment.

The festival runs for all weekend, with home-grown talent to the
fore.

Medway groups; Big Bubble, Moogie Wonderland and Loop Dance,
have been commissioned to create performances for the festival.

Loop Dance will be performing Promenade Dance to the Riverside
during the street arts day in Chatham on Saturday.

Moogie Wonderland, with artist Matt Ashdown from Rochester, were
awarded a special commission by Fuse to develop Greyscale World,
which will transform Medway's architecture and industrial
sites.

Another commission was awarded to Big Bubble.

Former University of Kent students Liz O'Byrne from Rochester
and Emily Owen from Maidstone are presenting Smile, their very
first professional performance as a company during the
festival.

Smile is
based on the idea of sharing a smile with a stranger and it
combines audience participation and performance.

Other local artists taking part include contemporary circus
company Dizzy O'Dare Presents, who host the monthly event Cabaret
of Curiosities at Chatham's Brook Theatre.

Tightrope artist Alana will be appearing with her Tiny
Travelling Tightwire Show.

Dizzy O'Dare will also be providing an aerial rig, for people to
try their hand at aerial circus skills, both at the street arts day
in Chatham and The Big Tea Party in Rochester on Sunday.

A number of events have been held this week in the build-up to
the festival.

Lighting the Fuse has seen Sparky the Puppet (pictured left
with a young shopper by Stephen Thomas Green) out and about in
Medway's High Streets.

Below is a list of the Fuse events. If you go
along to any of them, let us know what you thought. You can leave a
comment on this story or emailmedwaymessenger@thekmgroup.co.uk

SATURDAY

Alice?

2.30pm, Town Hall Gardens, Whiffens Avenue, Chatham.

Presented by students from Central School of Speech and Drama,
the creatures of Wonderland followed Alice on her return home and
now they're lost.



The Floor Crusaders

noon to 5pm

High Street, Chatham

The Floor Crusaders combine the freshest moves with live beats in
an unforgettable performance of street dance.

The North Wind and the Sun

noon to 5pm

High Street, Chatham

Inspired by Aesop’s Fables, this hip hop dance tale tells the story
of a dancer who is waiting at the bus stop to get to her dance
class only to find that the bus isn’t coming. Deciding to walk
instead, she gets caught up in a game between the Wind and the
Sun.

Promenade Dance to the Riverside

noon to 5pm

High Street, Chatham

A sensory journey guided by Loop Youth Dance Company performers and
accompanied by a live musician. Performers will promenade along the
riverside, encountering diverse dance happenings and installations
along the way, culminating in a professional dance choreographed by
Loop’s artistic director, Nina Atkinson.

The Weirdy Beardies

noon to 5pm

High Street, Chatham

There’s an inner Weirdy Beardy in each of us, just bristling to get
out and oddball about. Embrace the style of your beard and discover
your weird alter ego with this ever changing and eccentric hairy
performance.

Time For Teanoon to 5pm

High Street, Chatham

Wet Picnic’s tea ladies sweep through the streets to supply an
explosive and surreal teatime for everyone to enjoy. Your taste
buds will be tingling at the sight of this eccentric ensemble who
are as fabulous and fruity as the cake they eat.

Camera Obscura

noon to 5pm

High Street, Chatham

They’ve appeared on Time Team, entertained festival-goers at
Glastonbury and wowed the crowds at the Fuji Rock Festival in
Japan. Fascinating images projected inside Willett and Patteson’s
amazing Camera Obscura.

Pan Gottic’s Full Twist

noon to 5pm

High Street, Chatham

Award-winning Full Twist is an upbeat silent physical comedy,
mixing a unique blend of physical theatre, clowning and
contemporary circus, which follows the hilarious warm-hearted
journey of one quirky couple stumbling into love.

Reckless Invention’s The Pedalonoon to
5pm

High Street, Chatham

This amphibious pedalo has been cleverly adapted to take Mfanwy and
Gfanwy to places that normal pedalos cannot reach. It’s a
two-person peddle about with an oceanic theme.

The Tall Sailors

noon to 5pm

High Street, Chatham

Thomas Trilby’s Tall Sailors are shipshape and Bristol fashion and
introduce all sorts of nautical nonsense to the festival. With
stories of swashbuckling excitement and tales of terrible travels,
amazing adventures and high seas humour.

Goronwy Thom

noon to 5pm

High Street, Chatham

Hugely versatile and highly skilled in clowning and witty
repartee.

Acrojou’s The Jesters

noon to 5pm

High Street, Chatham

In the true spirit of the jester, these characters are both noble
and naughty, and wise enough to play the fool.

Dan the Hat

noon to 5pm

High Street, Chatham

A frenzy of comedy, skill and audience participation. Awesome hat
manipulation, supreme yo-yo skills, slick diabolo, juggling and
much more bound together in a daring attempt to rid the world of
the mundane.

Swank, Pearl & Deanie

noon to 5pm

High Street, Chatham

The big, the bold, the beehived usherettes extraordinaire, wielding
wit, warmth and torchlights. These lovable ladies search out the
hidden talent in us all. Now is your opportunity to reach for the
stars with Pearl & Deanie.

Bread & Butter Theatre Company present Topiary
Bushes and Green Fingered Folknoon to 5pm

High Street, Chatham

Passers-by will be surprised and delighted by the mischievous
garden fairies that live within these gigantic terracota pots. But
beware – they can be over-zealous with their watering cans.

Bicycle Ballet present Where are the girls when the boys
are learning to bunny hop?noon to 5pm

High Street, Chatham

A dynamic new outdoor show fusing dance, circus and physical
theatre – on bicycles. Following the evolving relationship of a
brother and sister growing up on, off, over, around and without
their bikes, the show uses spectacular bike tricks, fast-paced
choreography and theatrical vocabulary to chart the siblings’
bicycling journey from adolescence to adulthood.

Dizzy O’Dare Presents … The Tiny Travelling Tightwire
Shownoon to 5pm

High Street, Chatham

Join the procession of The Tiny Travelling Tightwire Show as it
rolls into town. Delightful show for all the family.

Smile

noon to 5pm

High Street, Chatham

Why doesn't anyone share a smile anymore? We do and you can
too with the Big Bubble

Circus workshops

noon to 5pm

High Street, Chatham

Tightwire walking, juggling, plate spinning, hoola hooping, diabolo
and much more. Free, and suitable for all ages.

The Heliosphere and the Diamond9pm

Rochester Castle Moat, Boley Hill, Rochester

Creating the illusion of flying, a helium filled balloon rises,
falls and glides overhead, suspending below a balletic aerialist,
tumbling and turning from ground level to 20 metres.

All Hands presented by The World
Famous

9.45pm-10.30pm

Rochester Castle Gardens

Internationally-renowned pyrotechnicians The World Famous combine
fire, fireworks, music and performance.

SUNDAY

Leap of Faith, presented by Hoodwink
Theatrenoon - 5pm

Rochester Castle Gardens

Paper wings, balloons, feathers, flying monks and a human
cannonball finale. Uplifting comedy, music and extraordinary visual
effects.

Alice?

4.30pm

Rochester Castle Moat, Boley Hill, Rochester. As before.

AirQuarium presented by Beautiful
Creatures

noon - 5pm

Rochester Castle Gardens

The AirQuarium, a somewhat makeshift science lab, sits on the
seabed, where strange and quirky characters study, test and
engineer these creatures and a beautiful electronic soundscape.
Performances every 20 minutes.

Travels with Grandad presented by Pickled
Imagesnoon – 5pm

Rochester Castle Gardens

Meet Grandad, eccentric traveller and storyteller extraordinaire,
with his battered Bedouin tent and magical tales of adventure.

Goronwy Thom

noon – 5pm

Rochester Castle Gardens



My Secret Garden, presented by Roustabout
Theatrenoon - 5pm

Rochester Castle Gardens

Enter a secret garden that can only be reached through a door
hidden for many years. A magical, muddy adventure.

Smilenoon – 5pm

Rochester Castle Gardens



Shirt or Squirt, presented by Bureau of Silly
Ideasnoon - 5pm

Rochester Castle Gardens

A static cycle race where two competitors generate electricity,
which powers fans and water pumps - the first to empty the tank
gets the yellow shirt while the loser gets the squirt.

Time for Tea

noon – 5pm

Rochester Castle Gardens

Tea ladies sweep through the park to supply an explosive and
surreal teatime for everyone to enjoy. This eccentric ensemble are
as fabulous and fruity as the cake they eat.

Dizzy O’Dare Presents…The Tiny Travelling Tightwire
Shownoon - 5pm

Rochester Castle Gardens

That’s the Way to Do It, presented by Time Won’t
Waitnoon - 5pm

Rochester Castle Gardens

An alternative take on the traditional Punch and Judy show, this is
a raucous comedy incorporating grotesque characters, puppets, music
and great knockabout choreography and is unlike any Punch and Judy
you have seen before.

The Trolls Kitchen presented by Plunge
Boomnoon – 5pm

Rochester Castle Gardens

A hungry troll is trouble, especially if you have pets. In a bid to
keep him well fed and contented the chefs are cooking him a
banquet. Children are recruited to forage for ingredients before
preparing a meal from the cock-and-bull cookbook. Repugnant stews,
rancid cup cakes, putrid smoothies and mangy salads are the order
of the day, so get cooking.

Camera Obscura

noon – 5pm

Rochester Castle Gardens

The Weirdy Beardiesnoon- 5pm

Rochester Castle Gardens



Take the Pose, presented by What’s Coming Out of the
Boxnoon - 5pm

Rochester Castle Gardens

A sideshow reviving the tradition of the seaside snapshot, giving
you the chance to have your 1930s-style seaside picture taken with
them.

Combining puppetry, live art, photography and new technologies this
highly participative family-and-friends street art performance is
fun for all ages.

Family workshops

noon - 5pm

Rochester Castle Gardens,

Wonderland hat-making, ceramic designs, decorating cupcakes and
more. Workshops are repeated throughout the afternoon.