Hullabaloo! hosting 101 arts events for children in the Midlands next week
Hullabaloo! Offaly's Children's Arts Festival presents its biggest programme to date with an extravaganza of creativity, art making and fun experiences for all the family next week. Now, in its 17th year, Hullabaloo! Offaly’s dedicated arts festival for children under twelve, runs from Wednesday, November 1 to Saturday, November 4 in Birr, Clara, Edenderry and Tullamore.
Hullabaloo! is all about creativity, stimulating curiosity, originality and confidence with workshops and family performances with the best artist facilitators from all over Ireland and beyond. Children have fun and experience a medley of high-quality creative experiences, curated to meet the developmental needs and interests of children of all ages.
As the festival prepares to open county-wide, Arts Officer Sally O’ Leary commented: “Offaly County Council Arts Office are, once again, delighted to be working in partnership with Birr Theatre and Arts Centre to deliver a programme of exciting live events countywide. This year we have even more reason to celebrate, with the opening of Esker Arts, we have expanded our partnership and welcome the new art centre to our team and are able to offer a full programme of events at Esker Arts, Tullamore as well as a great programme for Edenderry. This is the biggest programme to date with a broad spectrum of arts events for everyone. Hullabaloo! has become a much-anticipated annual event, offering fun for all the family and we are looking forward once again to this year’s events.”
With a monster one hundred and one events in this jam-packed programme, there is something for everyone from animation, juggling, character design, writing, drama and sensory movement to music, abstract art, drawing, hip-hop dance, finger puppets, and painting with wax. The 2023 programme sees a huge emphasis on inclusion, with bespoke workshops for children with additional needs, workshops in Ukrainian crafts and a broader offering for young audiences. The festival continues to promote inclusivity with affordable ticket prices with workshops priced at €4 and show prices at €5.
Offaly Libraries continue to be a vital part of the Hullabaloo! Programme offering wonderful workshops and experiences for children in their Birr, Clara, Tullamore and Edenderry branches. This year Hullabaloo! has a family programme that is full of humour, entertainment and creativity with family shows designed to appeal to a broad cross-section of interests and age-groups. The under 6’s can enjoy Teddy's Haunted House with Barking Dog Theatre.
Nine Stories About Love is a show about love, connection and belonging to each other and the world around us incorporating puppetry, shadow play and performance. This beautiful show is suitable for audiences up to the age of nine and their families. Theatre and circus fans can enjoy Out Of The Blú with Circus 250. Coming all the way from Turin, this is an action-packed show for all the family with the wonderfully subversive and interactive circus show by leading Italian Female Clown Franmarto.
The piece de resistance is the arrival to Offaly of The WhistleBlast Quartet. This passionate quartet of professionals will bring their classical concert into the hearts and minds of children and their families. Come down to the woods with the WhistleBlast Quartet and for a woodland adventure featuring some familiar characters and well-loved pieces of classical music. Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel and Peter and the Wolf will all appear; but watch out for the Trolls from the Hall of the Mountain King. Older children, aged between five to ten years old, will also enjoy The Ghost of Dorothy Dingley, an exciting tale of John Ruddle, Professor of the supernatural, who is determined to find out if a boy he meets, is being haunted by the ghost of Dorothy Dingley.
If that is not enough to choose from, then the family film Marcel The Shell With Shoes is also on the billing. Speaking at the fun-filled launch this week, the Birr Theatre & Arts Centre Manager said: “Documentary filmmaker Dean moves into a rental home where he discovers Marcel, a tiny, one-inch-tall talking shell who lives with his grandmother, Nana Connie. After one of Dean’s video clips of Marcel goes viral online, the little shell becomes an unlikely celebrity. However, Marcel only has one wish, to finally be reunited with the rest of his family and friends, all of whom were taken away by the house’s former owners.”
Co-founder of the Festival, Emma Nee Haslam stated: “We’re so excited with the growth of Hullabaloo! We started in 2007 with approx. 25 workshops in one town and it’s been growing ever since and now we have over 100 events for children and their families countywide.”
Bookings can be made directly through the website at hullabaloofestival.ie. Early booking is advised.