Gravity Fields to transform Grantham night life

Chasing The Eclipse in Market Place on Thursday and Saturday. Photo: Jim-Markland

Grantham’s town centre night time transformation starts this Thursday evening and culminates in an explosive finale on Saturday as part of this year’s Gravity Fields Festival.

It’s a programme of giant puppets, light and dance shows, music, busking and juggling, St Wulfram’s church transformed into Space Station Grantham, children’s entertainment and laboratories engineering mysterious, pulsating experiments and huge Giants of Science emerging for Saturday’s show-stopper.

On Thursday evening, September 25, the Chantry Dance Company premieres its amazing  Chasing the Eclipse celestial dance spectacle at 7.45pm and 9pm in the Market Place, a promise of things to come later in the festival.

On Conduit Lane the Volatile Light exhibition from IOU spills outside into light painting.

Then on Friday evening, St Peter’s Hill becomes a giant theatre stage – literally – with a mysterious laboratory springing up thanks to London based outdoor arts company Emergency Exit Arts.

Local performers join eminent scientists as they feed their experiment with knowledge mined from previous generations.

In neighbouring Abbey Gardens, Catalan artists Titeretu will display five giant puppeteer hands made of iron and wood with a chance for the audience to take control.

Saturday’s road closures will then allow the festival to take over the centre of town with a compelling mix of science displays from the George Centre to St Wulfram’s Church, Grantham Museum, and the Conduit Market stores.

At 5pm historic silk banners process from St Wulfram’s to St Peter’s Hill to mark the end of the In Newton’s Footsteps walks – and the ever popular Dizzy O’Dare opens their Museum and the Wonderful World of Mr E.

The main evening events begin at 7pm with Chasing the Eclipse returning to the Market Place, surrounded by a special food and craft market and fringe events promising music and entertainment.

On St Peter’s Hill an apothecary encampment offers Higgler’s Eye Magic and a meeting with Jack’s doctor of physic apothecary.

And finally the laboratories give  birth to their Giants of Science, with Newton, Marie Curie and other giants re-born, aided by 1,000 students, local children and community groups and a procession reaching the High Street at 9pm.

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