Ten-day programme includes two world premieres from the UK and four UK premieres from Germany, Spain, Catalonia and France,
Vertical choreography and live music on a 40-metre-high sculpture…over 2000 white paper peace doves in one of the UK’s leading retail destinations….a new poetry commission spelt out by a robot…the planet Mars up close…
Friday 18 to Sunday 27 July
IF: Milton Keynes International Festival is known for a distinctive biennial programme of installations and performance, outdoor spectaculars, circus, comedy, cabaret, live music and free family activities. In times of change and challenge, 2025 sees a programme which embraces a spirit of resilience, freedom and possibility, inspiring its many audiences to imagine a brighter, shared future.
The Festival presents two world premieres from the UK and four UK Premieres from Germany, Spain, Catalonia and France:
- Taking place in the woodlands of Campbell Park, Klub Girko’s Human Time Tree Time explores the precarious and delicate balance of the relationship between humans and nature. With the climate crisis at tipping point, two performers create a heart-stopping acrobatic performance where they balance tree trunks, branches, twigs and themselves - natural and human elements in constant equilibrium. Friday 18 July to Sunday 20 July (Germany)
- On the Festival’s opening night Deabru Beltzak’s pyrotechnic and drumming promenade performance Symfeuny makes its way through the city centre from Xscape, culminating in a spectacular on-stage finale in Campbell Park. Deabru Beltzak were part of the City’s iconic 2015 Rugby World Cup celebrations, Clash of Drums, produced by the Festival. Friday 18 July (Spain)
- Pagrav Dance Company’s One Sky brings the spirit of India’s Kite Festivals to the Bulbfield at Campbell Park. Inspired by the rooftops where kites are flown, six dancers engage with each other and the audience in a dynamic interplay of movement and puppeteering. Blending neo-classical Indian dance with modern aesthetics, One Sky explores the fusion of heritage and contemporary expression – and celebrates the beauty of shared experience. The largest outdoor work in the company’s history, One Sky is choreographed by artistic director Urja Desai Thakore, co-commissioned by the Festival and Sadler’s Wells and marks Pagrav’s 20th anniversary. Saturday 19 July (UK)
- Kamchàtka’s Alter at the 2023 Festival was named one of The Observer’s top ten theatre events of the year. This time, the company presents Fugit, an immersive daytime journey through Wolverton in the north west of the city where the audience put themselves in the hands of strangers. Fugit pays homage to those who have had the courage to abandon the unnecessary, leave the familiar behind, and move on into the unknown. Thursday 24 July to Saturday 26 July (Catalonia)
- Poet Maureen Onwunali has been commissioned by centre:mk in collaboration with the Festival to write a new work. The poem has its world premiere performance at Utopia in Verse, a poetry jam in Festival Central, Campbell Park. Curated by Onwunali and bringing together guest artists including live musicians and another young local poet, Utopia in Verse speaks to radical hope, collective liberation and the audacity to imagine the world other than it is. A Dublin-born Nigerian who grew up and lives in Milton Keynes, 22-year-old Onwunali is a two-time national slam champion and resident artist at The Roundhouse. Thursday 24 July (UK)
- Four years in the making, Transe Express’ DNA Vertical Odyssey beside The Point is a show in the sky which began as an engineering project. The action – a vertical choreography of climbing, aerial dance, circus, precision drumming and the singing and playing of an original score - takes place on a 40-metre-high sculpture under a 200-ton crane. The performers can feel the structure, a work of art in its own right, moving both with the wind and with their own and each other’s movements. Friday 25 July & Saturday 26 July (France)
Other 2025 programming…
Michael Pendry’s art-for-peace multi-media installation Les Colombes 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, exploring the bonds that tie us together and the delicate balance between individual freedom and collective belonging. 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. Les Colombes will also be shown in New York this year. Friday 18 July to Sunday 27 July (Germany)
NoFit State’s Bamboo is a high-impact circus production in Campbell Park and Queen’s Court in centre:mk. Using only bamboo and human bodies, it reveals the fragility and beauty of our interconnected life on this planet – whilst celebrating the sense of jeopardy that lies at the heart of great circus. Friday 18 July & Saturday 19 July Campbell Park & Sunday 20 July Queen’s Court, centre:mk (UK)
Zwermers’s Pan~//Catwalk brings identity politics to centre:mk. Through a fusion of fashion, choreography, live music and theatre, this performance challenges the urge to label or judge others based on how they look revealing instead a mind-opening celebration of fluidity and self-expression. Following a series of workshops run by the company, there will also be a specially-curated version of the show by the local community showcasing their own wardrobes and identities at Unity Place. Pan~//Catwalk Friday 18 July Queens Court, centre:mk & Community Performances Saturday 19 July Unity Place (Netherlands)
The elite acrobats of YUCK Circus champion the female voice with skills and attitude. This self-titled show in The Stables Spiegeltent, Campbell Park combines high-flying acrobatics, absurd confessions, groovy dancing and feisty comedy. Winners of the Fringe World Martin Sims Award, Best Circus at both Melbourne and Sydney Fringe and Best Emerging Artist at Adelaide Fringe. Friday 18 July & Saturday 19 July (Australia)
Luke Jerram’s third momentous planetary sculpture Mars features NASA imagery of the Martian surface presented with a special soundscape including recordings from the US missions to Mars. Presented at the Church of Christ The Cornerstone, The Open University will also collaborate with the Festival on a wrap-around programme that will give access to the space research laboratories and academics. Jerram’s Gaia and Museum of the Moon were highlights of the 2021 Festival. Friday 18 July to Sunday 20 July The Open University & Monday 21 July to Sunday 27 July, Church of Christ The Cornerstone (UK)
Osadía’s hair art performance Whose Hair Dares in Midsummer Place and Campbell Park is another exploration of self-expression and identity in this year’s Festival. Audience members are challenged to sit in Osadía’s grand barbers’ chairs and be transformed into living sculptures with original and provocative hair and make-up. Saturday 19 July Midsummer Place & Sunday 20 July Campbell Park (Catalonia)
Gijs van Bon’s Nyx sees a photoluminescent powder writing robot moving through the streets of Milton Keynes to reveal words from the new poetry commission by Maureen Onwunali. Van Bon’s sand writer SKRYF featured in the Festival in 2018 when he worked with poet Jackie Kay. Thursday 24 July MK Rose & Friday 25 July Festival Square by centre:mk (Netherlands / UK)
Mark Anderson’s four-hour Warning Notes in Fred Roche Gardens is a captivating sound and light installation-cum-performance. Striking instruments give voice to the social and ecological alarm rippling across our planet. Anderson was one of the artists who took part in For the Birds seen at the 2018 Festival. Thursday 24 July – Saturday 26 July (UK)
Architects of Air’s monumental walk-in sculpture Terceradix 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. This will be the third luminarium by Architects of Air featured by the Festival following Mirazozo in 2010 and Pentalum in 2014. Thursday 24 July to Sunday 27 July (UK)
The night sky has inspired many composers. Underneath Luke Jerram’s Mars in the Church of Christ The Cornerstone, the BBC New Generation Baroque Ensemble, Ensemble Augelletti plays a special concert celebrating extraordinary stories of 17th and 18th century astronomers with music named after stars, angels, and planets. The Morning Star features music by Corelli, Schmelzer and Uccellini. Friday 25 July (UK)
Tania El Khoury is a US-based British artist and academic of Lebanese origin. Her interactive sound installation, Memory of Birds, was created in collaboration with a trauma therapist. Lying in a scented pod hidden in the trees of Campbell Park, audiences will hear a soundscape featuring migrating birds, exploring political violence and the impact of war on contested land, the environment and wildlife. Friday 25 to Sunday 27 July. (UK / Lebanon)
The much-loved Spiegeltent programme of comedy, cabaret, circus and music also includes…
The Noise Next Door (UK), The Demon Barbers (UK), Monski Mouse’s Baby Disco Dance Hall (Australia), Lou Sanders (UK), La Voix (UK), Le Vent du Nord (Canada), The Selecter (UK), Scoot Theatre (UK), Peat and Diesel (UK), Lucy Spraggan (UK), The Rubbish Shakespeare Company (UK), Roachford (UK), Shlomo’s Beatbox Adventure for Kids (UK) and Ceilidh Liberation Front (UK).
The full IF: Milton Keynes International Festival programme, including an extensive series of talks, workshops and free family events, will be announced in June.
Full listings follow.
Dropbox link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/knvex0tr6n3m64e1qmxu0/ADKTlw4B-wFnpQAQPgCLtLA?rlkey=6p5bu0c4uax5kxtgp8cmfpral&st=0cnqcijg&dl=0
