Image credit:Tracy Tutt

An ambitious and extraordinary piece of aerial theatre will tell a powerful tale of ecological crisis at this year’s Mintfest international street arts festival in Kendal - the climax to Lakes Alive, Cumbria’s programme of world-class outdoor performance and arts events.

Mintfest will take place from the evening of Friday 2 September - Sunday 4 September.

'As The World Tipped', by Wired Aerial Theatre, will be the grand finale of Mintfest 2011 and combines dramatic video visuals with a breathtaking aerial performance to tell the story of a world hurtling towards an ecological disaster.

Telling the story with drama, humour and emotion, the performers will be suspended above the audience in the night sky.

The performance is written and directed by Nigel Jamieson, one of the world’s leading creators of large scale outdoor performances, who directed the opening of Liverpool’s European Capital of Culture celebrations and sections of the opening of the Sydney Olympic Games.

Nigel Jamieson says, “A big passion in my life in recent times has been to use theatre to explore one of those issues that confronts us all, and all of the species and creatures that we share this planet with. That is the issues of climate change. So, this idea of a surface that lifted up…seemed like a really fantastic metaphor for that predicament.”

The story revolves around a Copenhagen Climate Change conference, as harassed staff fail to notice the world around them literally and metaphorically sliding towards disaster. The wired performers struggle to control their precarious world as they do battle with dramatic environmental catastrophe.

As the World Tipped has been specially commissioned by Tipping Point and Without Walls, a consortium of eight of the UK’s leading arts festivals, including Mintfest. Tipping Point aims to bring artists and scientists together to raise awareness of climate change.

Julie Tait, from Kendal Arts International, says ”The show is absolutely unforgettable. It is technically and artistically brilliant, and it looks really stunning.  It also conveys a powerful message in an usual and original way.

“Lakes Alive was one of the commissioners of this show.  It has been shown a number of times around the Country and has had a fantastic reception, so I really hope that the Mintfest audience enjoys it too.”

The show will take place from 8 pm – 9.15 pm on Sunday 4 September at Abbot Hall Park in Kendal.

Other highlights of Minfest, include the Garden of Delights, in which Nobles Rest will be transformed into a utopia of performance and pleasure with circus performers, side-shows, fairy tales and musical enchantment.

Lakes Alive is one of the three Annual Legacy Programmes commissioned by the Legacy Trust UK for WE PLAY, the Northwest cultural legacy programme for the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.  It is being sponsored by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and has also received funding from Arts Council England and the Northern Rock Foundation.

Further details of Mintfest can be found at www.lakesalive.org.