This weekend, the Serious Nonsense Festival will take over Prescot town centre for three days of fun, entertainment, chaos and capers!
The festival, which attracted more than 15,000 people in its first year in 2022, celebrates Knowsley’s fascinating connections to Edward Lear, who lived at Knowsley Hall for many years and was best-known for his literary nonsense.
This year’s three-day festival is packed with FREE entertainment, performances, music, poetry, film and so much more.
The festival starts on Friday 11 August with a whole day of FREE workshops at Shakespeare North Playhouse, to celebrate 50 years of Hip Hop.
Across the rest of the weekend, there’ll be plenty more music to dance and sing along to, be amazed by the acrobatic skills of Black Eagles, have your fortune told by Madam Zsa Zsa, get up close with life like dinosaurs and look out for the giant cheeky kangaroos!
And back by popular demand, children can once again venture inside the belly of a huge inflatable whale.
There’s a full programme of shows at Shakespeare North Playhouse, including family entertainment, poetry readings from award winning poets and an exclusive film screening and masterclass with Carl Hunter – award winning filmmaker, photographer, and bassist in Liverpool pop-group The Farm.
The majority of entertainment is FREE and some ticketed shows at Shakespeare North Playhouse are ‘Pay What You Decide’.
Here’s the full timetable of performances across the weekend.
Cllr Shelley Powell, Knowsley’s Cabinet Members for Communities and Neighbourhoods commented: “Last year’s festival was brilliant and I’m really looking forward to this weekend. We have so much planned, from street performers and tribute bands to quirky characters and acrobats so there will be something for everyone to enjoy and get involved with.
“Last year was such a great success, with so many people visiting Prescot. It’s a great way for us to celebrate Knowsley’s links to Edward Lear and once again celebrate all that Prescot has to offer.”
You can view the full programme and book tickets here.
The Serious Nonsense Festival has been funded by Knowsley Council, Arts Council England, Prescot High Street Heritage Action Zone and UKSPF. The event will be supported by the Prescot Cultural Consortium, Shakespeare North Playhouse, Imaginarium Theatre and Milap. This year’s event will be programmed and produced by Walk the Plank – one of the UK’s leading outdoor arts specialists.
