Once Upon a Festival comes to the Marina Theatre

A new collaborative festival will allow young people to experience a vibrant mix of dance, theatre and poetry performances when it arrives at the Marina Theatre in Lowestoft.

Once Upon a Festival returns this June in venues and schools across East Anglia - featuring some of the best children’s performances companies from across the UK.

Led by Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, the Festival has five other partner venues; Marina Theatre, Lowestoft, Meet Up in Thetford, Southwold Arts Centre, Marketplace CPP – Chatteris In Myth & Memory and The Garage, Norwich.

A number of schools across Waveney will also be involved in the festival – which begins at the Marina Theatre on 14 and 15 June with Judith Kerr’s classic book The Tiger Who Came to Tea.

Pied Piper Theatre Company visit Southwold Arts Centre on 16 June with The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch, the show is packed with live music and audience participation.

On Father’s Day, Sunday, June 18 you can also watch the National Theatre Live’s screening of their children’s show Peter Pan at the Marina Theatre.

Week two opens with Suffolk based Theatre Company Wonderful Beast perform their latest show Orla’s Moon at Southwold Arts Centre.

Lyngo Theatre will be at the Marina Theatre with There and Back Again; The Odyssey a classic tale full of giants, myths and legends on 21 June at 1.30pm and 4.30pm.

This year’s Festival is sponsored by Taylor Wimpey and has been supported with funding from Bury St Edmunds Town Council, Lowestoft Rising and Arts Council England.

Will Isgrove, Head of Young People and Outreach at the Marina Theatre, said: “We are really excited to be partnering with the Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds to deliver ‘Once Upon a Festival’. It is a great opportunity for local schools to come and be a part of some high quality theatre and engage with storytelling and performance.”

For more information about the performances at the Marina Theatre, call the box office on 01502 533200 or visit our what's on page

A full schedule of the events is listed below.