Greenwich Festival in our back garden!

Tonight and tomorrow night only, Crossfields will be invaded by ghouls between 9.40 and 10pm. This is French theatre company Rara Woulib and their show Deblozay – an outdoor promenade performance and part of Greenwich + Docklands International Festival which kicks off today.

Local residents will have already heard or seen the rehearsals for Deblozay over the last few nights whilst the company has been camped out at the Creekside Centre. There's been a lot of singing and drums going on till late, and  – slightly annoying for those living closest – the all night hum of a generator.

Like all the festival events, the show is free, but reservations have now closed. However, Crossfields peeps will be able to watch the performance as it processes across the Ha'Penny Hatch into the estate from an unadvertised meeting point in Greenwich central (starts at 9.10pm).

The GDIF website says about the show:

"Haitian culture looks at death in a very different way to our own. It is not a hushed-up affair of coffins and closed doors but a loud celebration of all that life has to offer, in this world and the next.

As the sun sets, join French company Rara Woulib in conjuring the ghosts of the city’s departed for this joyous pilgrimage. See for yourself why the dead have so much more fun than the living."

Greenwich + Docklands International Festival runs 20 - 28 June. Check out the festival website for other events this weekend and next.

For one night only (tonight), there's Muaré by Spanish/Argentinian company Voala, at the Old Naval College, featuring aerial choreography, pyrotechnics and live music (starts 10pm).

Greenwich Fair starts today and is on all weekend with three days of free outdoor theatre, circus, dance, installations and sideshows, from lunchtime to 10.25pm Fri/Sat and till 7pm on Sunday, in the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College and Cutty Sark Gardens.

With lots more on in between, the festival finale is, as usual, at Woolwich on 28th June. This year it's Polish theatre company Teatr Osmega Dnia with Arka – with 'strong physical performances, Balkan music and fire effects' in a performance which tells the story of a wedding party broken up by military invasion and commemorates the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in 1914 which led to the First World War.

Photo © Photos Bushido

Greenwich + Docklands International Festival is back!

We're liking yesterday's publicity stunt by GDIF. Twitter was a-burst with reports of a 17m sperm whale beached close to Cutty Sark Gardens, and we are sorry to have missed it, as we like a walk by the river of an afternoon when we can, although just one look at this riverscape and we can see how Convoys Wharf is going to spoil it.

(Press Release reads) "This super-real, art installation is the work of the Belgian arts collective Captain Boomer, created in collaboration with Zephyr Wildlife Reconstruction. The sculpture will now move to the Old Royal Naval College from Friday 21 June where GDIF audiences will be able to see it as part of our Greenwich Fair programme."

It's all happening in Cutty Sark Gardens today from 5.45pm. See here.

For full festival events click here.