BRADFORD’S City Park will burst into life with a colourful line-up of high quality creative street theatre and dance from July 12-14 as part of the Bradford Festival.

The 2019 festival features over 21 musical acts, 20 street theatre shows, a dance programme and 15 workshops. Entry is free.

Celebrated Cumbrian street theatre troupe, Fairly Famous Family will bring their hilarious 60s and 70s rolling buffet, Kitsch Kafé. Featuring a virtuoso stylophone, a gallery of genuinely terrifying 60s recipes and the worst in easy listening music, Kitsch Kafé present an irresistible cocktail of starch, funk and indigestion.

Having made a remarkable recovery from the embarrassing toilet fiasco of August ’77, Skeleton-Elvis is back from the dead and very much alive with his glamorous rockabilly wife, Grisella. Bradford outdoor theatre company, Giddy Kipper Arts, perform their hilariously harrowing singing duo, SkElvis and Grisella Ain’t Dead. Reasonable music requests are welcomed.

From deep within the vegetable patch at the bottom of the garden, Froojamaflip, a living fruit and vegetable man is uncovered. With his friend, Fred The Gardener, they share the wonders of the Great British garden through storytelling and comedy in a colourful show by Lincoln-based theatre troupe, Curious Creations.

Multi-awarding winning puppeteers from British creative company, Noisy Oyster bring two light-hearted street acts.

In Meanderthals, two whimsical fantasy walkabout characters carrying enormous loads surprise onlookers by letting the occasional gigantic sneeze while Plain Bob is an interactive adventure that all takes place on a stage created from suitcases, an umbrella and a rain coat. Original music and sound effects are triggered discretely by a second performer who at times magically directs Bob via radio control.

Bread and Butter Theatre Company who entertained crowds at the Commonwealth Games and World EXPO in Shanghai, bring Pirates of Menspants, where two dashing, bearded, sea shanty-singing pirates perform hits such as ‘What’s that coming over the hull…is it a mackerel?’ and ‘They tried to make me sail to rehab but I said, row, row, row!’.

Thingumajig Theatre’s Plucky features a very big, very friendly and possibly over-curious chicken will bring fun, farmyard frolics, music and song to the festival.

Exuberant all-women street theatre troupe, Circo Rum Ba Ba are staging L’Hotel - an enchanting show incorporating acrobatics, circus-style globe walking, French finesse, trumpeting and mime mayhem.

Audiences will be invited to watch in amazement as the charming, eccentric, tiny ‘hotel’ erupts into a glittering cabaret, dances into dream-filled slumber and wakes to clattering kitchen choreography.

SEED by Sheffield-based theatre group, Pif Paf features their trademark blend of humour, pathos, science and renowned design in a show starring a Rockabilly Tree-Planting Anarcho-Nomad and a giant snail.

Curious comical aliens will mimic passers-by in an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of City Park’s earthlings in Are We Alien? by Liverpool-based interactive street theatre company, Artemis.

The Play People’s stunningly realist mythical Troll brandishing a massive spiked club is set to be let loose on City Park crowds over the festival weekend.

Audiences are warned to look out for a strange subterranean aquatic creature in Beryl – The Beast of Bradford Beck! by Bradford-based, Artworks Creative Communities.

West Yorkshire puppet and mask theatre company, A Bird In the Hand Theatre brings Special Delivery, a sweet and gentle show without words blending beautiful puppetry with a good dollop of silliness.

On a mission to find brightly coloured objects, Marilyn Monroe by Armley-based Same Difference Arts is a non-verbal, weird, slightly grotesque and funny show where three garish characters match colour swatches and take memorable photos which are uploaded to social media.

Contemporary UK circus and theatre company, Dizzy O’Dare, will stage Phileas Fogg: Day 79, a hilarious roaming show fusing modern technology and the classic adventure novel by Jules Verne.

Giant Dragons by flamboyant stilt walkers, An Act Above, will alternate between high-energy prancing and sculptural stillness bringing colour and surprise encounters to the three day festival.

A glamorous Latino dancer and her life size puppet will perform mesmerising duets to some of the most fabulous South American rhythms in Valentino by Cusan Theatre.

Bradford-based arts collective, Spongetree will perform an interactive show with a strong ecological message in Trees on Tour.

And festivalgoers will travel back in time to a world of monochrome, wonderment and curiosity with Curious Cargo’s silent movie characters in Lost Luggage Porters.

Dance lovers will be treated to some quirky and entertaining outdoor performances with celebrated international touring British dance company, Motionhouse, bringing their comic dynamic outdoor dance piece, Happy Hour.

The playful and funny male-female duet explores the theme of meeting a stranger in a crowded place and features quirky poses, dynamic lifts, athletic moves and split-second timing.

Visionary dancers, choreographers and teachers from Norfolk-based contemporary dance company, Glass House Dance are calling on all foot-tappers, dad dancers, disco divas, jumping jivers, old school ravers and shake-your-moneymakers to join them on a clubbing journey through the ages. Time Machine Disco is an interactive dance piece where participants release their inner rebel and become performers.

A beautiful classical Indian dancer will ‘sketch’ a lion with her feet while dancing on a white cloth spread over red coloured powder in Simhanandini by acclaimed British Asian dance company, Annapurna Indian Dance. The extraordinarily striking, rare and ancient Indian temple ritual dance will be performed by renowned British classical Indian dancer, Abhinandana Kodanda. Annapurna will also stage Dance of the Brass Plates - a magical act performed on the rims of brass plates by gorgeous young temple dancers in breathtaking authentic costumes.

Both pieces feature a type of ancient Indian ‘Mridangam’ drumming by international percussionist, Pratap Ramachandran.

Councillor Sarah Ferriby, Healthy People and Places Portfolio Holder, said: “We are thrilled to be staging such high quality dance again this year.

“The street theatre line-up adds to a strong existing programme of music, dance, workshops and activities designed to attract people into the city centre.

“Admission is free and everyone is welcome.”

For information and updates, visit bradfordfestival.org.uk or follow Bradford Festival on Twitter and Facebook.