The Greenwich+Docklands International Festival is a free annual outdoor performing arts festival, which takes place across East and South East London every June. GDIF was founded by its Artistic DirectorBradley Hemmings as an independent festival in 1996 and is produced by the charitable organisation Greenwich+Docklands Festivals. The festival organises over 200 performances during 10 days, which are attended by over 80,000 people each year.
Founding
The Greenwich+Docklands International Festival was founded by its Artistic Director Bradley Hemmings as an independent festival in 1996. The Festival developed out of the former Greenwich Festival into a cross-river festival. Hemmings also performed as Co-Artistic Director of the Paralympic Opening Ceremony 2012 in London together with Jenny Sealey from Graeae Theatre Company.
Festival programme
The festival produces site-specific outdoor theatre in public urban spaces in Greenwich and Tower Hamlets. Performances include small to large-scale theatrical and acrobatic shows by national and international artists. GDIF has a tradition of presenting spectacular shows such as Graeae's and La Fura dels Baus' Prometheus Awakes, Compagnie Off's Les Girafes, Free Art's Voala, Close Act's Pi-Leau, Periplum's and The World Famous's The Bell, Strange Fruit's Absolute Pearl. GDIF also features Dancing City, an annual celebration of contemporary dance in the urban environment of Canary Wharf. Dancing City is part of the international Dancing Cities network. With its productions and commissions the festival highlights the relation between people and places and draws attention to themes such as regeneration, climate change, and social integration. GDIF is one of the frontrunners in making outdoor theatre accessible to as many people as possible, including performers and spectators. The festival also sets out to re-animate abandoned or neglected urban spaces. An example is the presentation of Frauke Requardt's and David Rosenberg's Motor Show on Greenwich Peninsula in 2012 or Wired Aerial's As The World Tipped in Mile End Park in 2011. Two of the shows produced for GDIF2012, Prometheus Awakes and Crow) and GDF's production of Close Act's Pi-Leau in Hastings were part of the London 2012 Festival, the Cultural Olympiad accompanying the Olympic Games in London. GDIF takes place in Greenwich and Tower Hamlets, both Olympic host boroughs.
Collaborations
The Festival is part of The Greenwich Festivals and Without Walls, and regularly collaborates with various Catalan artistic groups, Fet a Ma, Free Art ).
Since 2011 the festival also hosts London's annual showcase of outdoor theatre with over 150 national and international delegates attending and up to 40 companies presenting. The list of companies showcasing at GDIF 2012 included:
National press describes GDIF as a key arts event in London’s cultural agenda which is widely perceived as an invaluable contribution to the general “happiness" of the people of London.
The Sunday Times said that GDIF is the "high-octane 21st-century vengeance" of the Dickensian Greenwich Fair, featuring "heart-stopping circus" and a "whirling, tumbling riot of physical theatre."
The Guardian said: "The Greenwich+Docklands International Festival brings so much spectacle to the streets with its nine days of free events you could be forgiven for thinking you're hallucinating."
The Telegraph said "reliably engaging and innovative, the Greenwich and Docklands International Festival fuses theatre, dance, art and music to create a ten-day-long cultural spectacular."
Time Out said about GDIF2012: “One of London’s greatest free cultural events."
said about GDIF "this is street theatre at its best: epic, emotive and full of surprises."
