Greenwich and Docklands International Festival unveils reimagined event for 2020

The Greenwich and Docklands International Festival is reimagining its 2020 event to comply with social distancing requirements, by taking performances to people’s doorsteps and staging work in remote locations.

This year marks the outdoor festival’s 25th anniversary, and organisers have promised to deliver "distinctively surprising and engaging artistic work" while adapting performances to follow social distancing rules.

Plans include On Your Doorstep, a programme of family-friendly circus and street theatre, performed on people’s doorsteps in communities across Greenwich, Woolwich, Thamesmead, North Woolwich and Eltham.

Its annual dance offering, which it runs in Canary Wharf, will take place with safe distancing integrated into the performances and audience experience, while large-scale outdoor theatre work will be performed in more isolated locations with reduced capacities and controlled entry.

Artistic director Bradley Hemmings said that by rethinking the event’s format, it would be able to reach audiences at a time when many arts organisations are unable to.

"As we emerge from these difficult and socially isolated times, I believe that outdoor arts can potentially offer audiences a bridge to a new and safe-distanced world of live performance. In reimagining our plans, our primary concern has of course been the welfare of artists and audiences.

"Thanks to the resourcefulness of artists, staff and partners we are proceeding optimistically towards the 25th anniversary edition of the festival, which whilst it will be very different to previous years, will retain at its heart the spirit of togetherness and transformation, for which GDIF has always been renowned," he said.

The Greenwich and Docklands International Festival will take place from August 28 to September 12.