Comedy, art, music and 10 million free tickets... it’s the London 2012 Festival

 
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Louise Jury30 April 2012

Don't laugh yet, but a group of comedians is planning to mark the Olympics by sailing from London to Edinburgh in a canal barge.

Organisers admit the journey — one of the highlights of the 2012 Festival unveiled today — has “comedic disaster at its core” as there is no direct canal link between the two capital cities.

It is one of several madcap ideas to celebrate the Games, with a lifesize inflatable Stonehenge “bouncy castle” by Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller heading from Glasgow to London.

Highlights of the 12-week festival, the culmination of the four-year Cultural Olympiad, include Julie Walters at the National Theatre, Meera Syal at the Royal Shakespeare Company and Juliette Binoche and Cate Blanchett at the Barbican.

Many events are free, including a day of “extreme dance” planned by American choreographer Elizabeth Streb and her company at landmark locations across London. Previous projects include performers throwing themselves off New York’s Brooklyn Bridge. The narrowboat journey — the vision of the Pleasance theatre, which has venues in Islington and Edinburgh — would see comics perform impromptu shows for webcast on the canalside before arriving in Scotland for the Edinburgh Festival.

The London 2012 Festival runs from June 21 to September 9 and will showcase 25,000 artists in 12,000 events and performances at more than 900 venues nationwide. A 140-page guide to the programme, which includes 10 million free tickets, was published today. Other highlights include indie rockers Noisettes at the BT River of Music concerts, and Stephen Fry interviewing Olympic legends such as Ed Moses.

A pop-up Thames-side banqueting house will be created in the shape of a pineapple, while BMW cars customised by artists from Andy Warhol to David Hockney will go on show in Britain for the first time in a London car park.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra will perform with urban artists led by Ms Dynamite at Waltham Forest Town Hall, Hackney Empire is reliving highlights of its comedy roots in Ha Ha Hackney, and there will be a theatrical walking tour of Stratford. The BFI Southbank is raiding its archives to mount a celebration of Britain’s comedy divas from Joyce Grenfell to Sally Phillips. Royal Opera House chief Tony Hall, chairman of the Cultural Olympiad Board, said the line-up was even better than he had hoped.

He said: “So many people will be watching the Games. But they will also see a festival of arts and culture the likes of which we have never seen before, a great showcase for the UK and what the UK is best at.”

Stephen Fry said: “It’s only right that we use the opportunity to showcase our world-leading arts and culture when the eyes of the world are on us.”

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