Two weekends of free family shows…the first ever children’s work from Gandini Juggling…a baby disco led by a mouse and more.
Children and families have always been at the centre of IF: Milton Keynes International Festival and 2025 is no exception. From 18 to 27 July, family-friendly shows, theatre, circus, games and art events, many of them free or low cost, will be springing up in locations around the city.
Free Family Focus Weekend One, Friday 18 to Sunday 20 July
Two works by Working Boys Club (UK): Noisy Noise Noise is a sound library for noisy children and their grown-ups. Within this interactive installation there are more than 90 books, each of which will, when pressed, trigger a noise. It could be a song, a film clip, a meme – or just something a little bit rude and funny!
Friday 18 July 4pm Campbell Park, MK9 4AT
Saturday 19 July 10am & 2pm Midsummer Place, MK9 3GB
Sunday 20 July 11am & 3pm Campbell Park, MK9 4AT
Serving Sounds is a mobile pub that creates connections through music. Audiences find all the things they’d usually find on a bar, like glasses and beer mats. But when touched, these items create a groove, a sound – maybe even your favourite song.
Friday 18 July 1pm Unity Place, MK9 1UP
Friday 18 July 4.15pm & 9.30pm Campbell Park, MK9 4AT
Saturday 19 July 12pm & 3pm Festival Square, MK9 3FN
Saturday 19 July 5.15pm Campbell Park, MK9 4AT
Sunday 20 July 11.15am, 2.15pm & 4pm Queens Court, centre:mk, MK9 3EP
Bamboo by NoFit State Circus (UK): A breathtaking outdoor circus show which uses only bamboo and human bodies. The performers arrive at an empty stage carrying bundles of sticks which unfold like giant trellises and are formed into sculptures six metres high. The show becomes an animated circus installation with moments of beauty, impressive feats of strength and agility and elements of physical comedy.
Friday 18 July 5pm Festival Central, Campbell Park, Milton Keynes MK9 4AT
Saturday 19 July 12.15pm & 3.15pm: Festival Central, Campbell Park, Milton Keynes MK9 4AT
Sunday 20 July 12pm & 3pm, Queen’s Court, centre:mk, Milton Keynes MK9 3EP
Xics del Xurrac by Tombs Creatius (Catalonia): The Catalan theatre company and Festival favourites bring fun and games back to Festival Central in Campbell Park. Come and join them in playful and challenging games and puzzles for all ages throughout the day. All you need to is turn up and play!
Friday 18 July, 4pm - 7pm; Saturday 19 & Sunday 20 July, 11am - 5pm
Festival Central, Campbell Park, MK9 4AT
Pan~//Catwalk by Zwermers (Netherlands): Through a fusion of fashion, choreography, live music and theatre, this show challenges the urge to label or judge others based on how they look. Following shows in Queen’s Court, there will be a specially-curated version where the local community showcase their own wardrobes and identities at Unity Place.
Friday 18 July 12pm & 2.45pm Queen’s Court, centre:mk, Milton Keynes MK9 3EP
Saturday 19 July 12.45pm & 3.30pm (community performances) Unity Place, 200 Grafton Gate, MK9 1UP
Les Patineurs by 15ft6 (Belgium): The rollerskating whizzes of 15ft6 present a gasp-inducing and hilarious battle in a tiny arena. They combine their impressive circus skills with the lyrical Skaters’ Waltz.
Saturday 19 July, 1pm & 4pm, Festival Square, MK9 3FN (outside Door 18, centre:mk)
Sunday 20 July, 1pm & 4pm, Festival Central, Campbell Park, MK9 4AT
One Sky by Pagrav Dance (UK): This world premiere brings the spirit of India’s kite festivals to life, filling the sky with colour and joy. Choreographed by Urja Desai Thakore, this large-scale outdoor spectacle celebrates togetherness, happiness and the beauty of shared experience.
Saturday 19 July, 1.15pm & 6pm, Campbell Park Bulbfield, Milton Keynes MK9 4AT
Whose Hair Dares by Osadía (Catalonia): Hairdressing becomes theatre in the barber chairs of Osadía. Dare to take a seat and have your own locks styled into an outlandish hair sculpture by the performers. Or watch in amazement as your fellow audience members return from the barber chair transformed.
Saturday 19 July, 10am -1pm Midsummer Place, Milton Keynes MK9 3GB
Sunday 20 July, 11.30am & 2pm Festival Central, Campbell Park, Milton Keynes MK9 4AT
Free Family Focus Weekend Two, Saturday 26 & Sunday 27 July
Two shows by Half A String (UK): The award-winning visual theatre company bring their brand of breathtaking puppetry, beautiful storytelling and original music to the Festival. In The Lost Colour Malcolm Brushell, professional painter and amateur alchemist, is on a quest to find the pinky-est pink paint on the planet! In Space Chickens, Earth’s most unlikely hero is an adventurous chicken who is blasted into space to solve all our planet’s problems. Sounds ridiculous? Not for our heroic hen who will boldly go where no poultry has gone before...
Saturday 26 July 11am The Lost Colour, 3.20pm Space Chickens Festival Central, Campbell Park, MK9 4AT
Drop Me If You Dare by Joli Vyann (UK): This beautiful duet is a beguiling mix of dance and partner acrobatics which has enthralled audiences of all ages all over the world.
Saturday 26 July & Sunday 27 July, 11.45am & 2.30pm, MK Rose, Campbell Park, MK9 3FT
You Too Can Tutu by Gandini Juggling (UK): The much-loved company’s first-ever children’s show blends the grace of ballet with the playful precision of juggling. Colourful pointe shoes and hyper-coloured balls dance together to form mesmerising patterns and shapes in a joyful spectacle of movement and rhythm.
Saturday 26 July & Sunday 27 July at 1.15pm & 4pm (in a double bill with SAY) MK Rose, Campbell Park Milton Keynes MK9 3FT
The album: skool edition by SAY (UK): This interactive dance created especially for kids and their families sees fast-paced and slick contemporary dance routines to exciting new music, including tracks by UK beatbox champion MC Zani and alternative pop artist Naomi Banks. the album: skool edition is Saturday 26 July & Sunday 27 July at 1.15pm & 4pm (in a double bill with Gandini Juggling) MK Rose, Campbell Park, Milton Keynes MK9 3FT
Wire Attire by Sam Goodburn (UK): One man’s quest to put on his clothes, eat biscuits and unicycle across a tight wire. Sam Goodburn has spent countless hours trying to be funny and with his quick wit and biscuit tricks, she should be able to prove that he is. Thousands of audience members at festivals and stages around the world have been impressed by Sam’s skills and only a few found it odd that he is wearing a winter bobble hat on a beautiful summer’s day.
Sunday 27 July, 2pm & 4pm, Xscape, 602 Marlborough Gate, MK9 3XS
Family-friendly ticketed shows in the Spiegeltent
Monski Mouse’s Baby Disco Dance Hall (Australia): Why toddle when you can dance? Join DJ Monski Mouse and her dancers for this award-winning, epic session of bopping, bonkers, beautiful fun. Expect high-energy smiling to retro beats and thumping nursery rhymes.
Sunday 20 July, 2.15pm, The Stables Spiegeltent, Festival Central, Campbell Park Milton Keynes MK9 4AT Tickets: £12.50
Scoot Theatre’s Quentin Blake’s Mrs Armitage on Wheels (UK): When Mrs Armitage goes out for a ride with her trusty dog Breakspear, she decides her bicycle needs improvement. With a new horn, a picnic hamper… and a sail, will she manage to keep her bicycle in one piece or will her crazy contraption prove too much to handle? In this stage adaptation of Quentin Blake’s classic tale, Scoot Theatre present an interactive, energetic show celebrating the joy of getting outdoors and being active.
Thursday 24 July, 11.30am & 1.30pm, The Stables Spiegeltent, Festival Central, Campbell Park Milton Keynes MK9 4AT Tickets: Adults £13.50, under-16s £11
The Rubbish Shakespeare Company’s Rubbish Romeo & Juliet (UK): Three idiots perform Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, using only a box of tatty wigs, a worn floral dress and a burst airbed they found by the bins. Described as ‘like Horrible Histories but funnier’ (Primary Times), the beloved Rubbish Shakespeare Company returns with a riotous family-friendly treat. Featuring clowning, slapstick and mischievous storytelling, this production is a joyous introduction to Shakespeare – or even theatre itself.
Saturday 26 July, 2pm The Stables Spiegeltent, Festival Central, Campbell Park Milton Keynes MK9 4AT Tickets: £13.50 (under-16s £11)
Shlomo’s Beatbox Adventure for Kids (UK): Join world record-breaking beatboxer SK Shlomo (they/them) who makes amazing music with just a mouth and a mic and has performed across the globe with legends such as Björk, Ed Sheeran and Rudimental. Anybody can become one of this sonic superhero’s sidekicks in a world of funny sounds, brilliant noises and cool music, whether they’re aged 1 or 101.
Sunday 27 July, 2pm, The Stables Spiegeltent, Festival Central, Campbell Park Milton Keynes MK9 4AT Tickets: £13.50 (under-16s £11)
Neves Solicitors are the Spiegeltent Family Programme Partner at this year’s Festival.
The return of the powder writing robot
Gijs van Bon’s Nyx (Netherlands / UK): Festival favourite Gijs van Bon’s is back on, this time with Nyx, a photoluminescent powder writing robot moving through the streets of Milton Keynes to reveal words from a new poem by Maureen Onwunali, commissioned by IF: Milton Keynes International Festival and its headline partner, centre:mk.
Thursday 24 July 8.30pm – 10.30pm MK Rose, Campbell Park, Milton Keynes
MK9 4AT
Friday 25 July 8.30pm – 10.30pm Festival Square, centre:mk, Milton Keynes
Large-scale outdoor events and installations for audiences of all ages
Four years in the making, Transe Express’ DNA, Vertical Odyssey (France) beside The Point is a show in the sky which began as an engineering project. Taking place on a 40-metre-high sculpture under a 200-ton crane, the action - a vertical choreography of climbing, aerial dance, circus, precision drumming and the singing and playing of an original score. This is the show’s UK premiere.
Friday 25 July & Saturday 26 July, 9.45pm, Secklow Gate car park by The Point, Milton Keynes, MK9 3NE, Tickets: £7.50, under-16s £5
Michael Pendry’s art-for-peace multi-media installation Les Colombes (Germany) brings over 2,000 white paper doves to Middleton Hall in centre:mk, the Festival’s headline partner. The site-responsive installation has been on a world-wide journey since its creation. In Milton Keynes people will be invited both to make doves to contribute to the installation and to hang doves in the windows of shops, offices, community centres and homes to create a second, City-wide, installation.
Friday 18 July to Sunday 27 July, 10am – 11pm Middleton Hall, centre:mk Midsummer Boulevard, Milton Keynes MK9 3EP Free
Architects of Air’s monumental walk-in sculpture Terceradix (UK) is sited at Festival Central in Campbell Park. Its maze-like structure features domes and winding paths where organic shapes and diverse architectural influences merge in a breathtaking display of design and engineering. Large translucent ‘light catchers’ sit atop the domes capturing more light and creating a variety of hues inside the space which have never been seen in a luminarium before.
Thursday 24 July, 11am – 4.30pm (last admission), Friday 25 to Sunday 27 July, 11am – 7pm (last admission), Campbell Park Bulbfield, Milton Keynes MK9 4AT Tickets £6, under-16s £5, family of four £20
Luke Jerram’s third momentous planetary sculpture Mars (UK) features NASA imagery of the Martian surface presented with a special soundscape including recordings from the US missions to Mars. It will be sited in two locations, The Open University campus and the Church of Christ The Cornerstone. The Open University are also collaborating with the Festival on a wrap-around programme that will give access to the space research laboratories and academics.
Friday 18 July to Sunday 20 July: The Open University, next to Berrill Building, Walton Hall campus, Kents Hill, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, Friday 18 July, 10am-9pm, Saturday 19 July, 10am-9pm, Sunday 20 July, 10am-4pm Free (suggested donation £3)
Monday 21 July – Sunday 27 July (not open on Thursday 24 July): Church of Christ The Cornerstone, 300 Saxon Gate, Milton Keynes MK9 2ES, Monday 21 July, 3pm – 8pm, Tuesday 22 July & Wednesday 23 July 10am – 8pm, Friday 25 July 10am – 12.30pm, Saturday 26 July 10am – 4pm and 7pm – 9pm, Sunday 27 July, 2pm – 6pm Free (suggested donation £3)
Chances to join in – and make paper doves!
There are also lots of chances for children and young people to join in at a host of workshop opportunities at this year’s Festival – including free paper dove-making workshops in Middleton Hall at centre:mk daily from Thursday 3 to Sunday 27 July.
No experience is necessary and all the materials are provided, making it a perfect activity for families and friends. There’s more information here: https://ifmiltonkeynes.org/paper-dovemaking-at-if2025
