Big Events is an ambitious year-long entertainment programme launched this month for the citizens of Watford.
Comprising of dance, drama, sport, fashion and animation events, the launch features high-street champion Mary Portas, who says, “Being Watford born and bred, I am delighted to be opening Watford's Big Events.
"Our High Streets are our heartbeats, they form one of the most important social fabrics of our community and the way we live so this really will be brilliant for the town. Big Events is a great way to showcase the talent in the area and I am so proud to be involved.”
The 20 June launch coincides with the Imagine Watford festival and is staged by Watford Borough Council in association with Watford Palace Theatre.
The launch programme includes a special effects display by Alchemy Fireworks, an art installation from Spacecadets Air Design in which plants are brought to life, and live music, choreography, and theatre from The Dan Tien’s 3 Heads, Tangled Feet and Bread and Goose theatre companies.
Most of the Big Events programme is free, taking place in the newly renovated area around The Parade and the pond, and will feature local as well as international talent.
Meanwhile, Watford Palace Theatre has also released details of the autumn season.
Two newly commissioned plays are side by side with co-productions and visiting companies:
- Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran’s Love Me Do receives its world première in September. The writers' credits include Von Ribbentrop’s Watch, Goodnight Sweetheart, Shine On Harvey Moon and Birds Of A Feather. Co-directed by Brigid Larmour and Shona Morris, this play is set at the height of the Cold War.
- The second world première is Happy Birthday Sunita. This new comedy drama about family by Harvey Virdi (created by Pravesh Kumar and Harvey Virdi) plays Watford Palace prior to its national tour which takes in Wolverhampton, Leeds, Oldham and Colchester.
- Pioneer is a life-affirming tale set in the future devised by Curious Directive Company and directed by Jack Lowe. The story concerns an Indian Flight Director preparing to lead three astronauts on a mission to Mars.
- Playwright Roy Williams puts Sophocles' Antigone in a contemporary setting for this story about what happens when one person takes a stand against the rules.
- This House writer James Graham's The Angry Brigade has its world première in the touring production from Paines Plough and Theatre Royal Plymouth. It is a thriller set against a backdrop of Tory cuts, high unemployment and the deregulated economy of 1970’s Britain.
- English Touring Theatre also visits Watford with its Sheffield Theatres co-production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night directed by Jonathan Munby.
- Family pantomime Sleeping Beauty closes the autumn season.
Also for family audiences is The Adventure by Oliver Birch that visits in November and Michael Morpurgo's I Believe In Unicorns.
The season includes a programme of dance events and celebrations of Eid, Black History Month and Diwali.