The Serious Nonsense Festival

Friday 11, Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 August 2023

Prescot Town Centre is set – once again – to be transformed into a chaotic festival of fun as the Serious Nonsense Festival returns. Here’s the full timetable of performances across the weekend.

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 set to be even bigger and better than ever before. From the sublime to the ridiculous, there will be something for the whole family to enjoy – everything from a T-Rex Dinosaur show to an evening celebrating LGBTQ literature, musical performances from Chic Le Freak to a couple of bouncing kangaroos!

And back by popular demand, children can once again venture inside the belly of a huge inflatable sperm whale.

There will be special appearances from renowned poets and performers and the vast majority of the performances across the weekend are FREE of charge.

The festival is 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 has been programmed and produced by Walk the Plank – one of the UK’s leading outdoor arts specialists.