Birmingham Weekender 2024 - Bank Holiday Free Festival

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Fri 23 Aug 2024 - Mon 26 Aug 2024

Birmingham Weekender this Bank Holiday Weekend is promising a host of free activities for all the family across four days. The event between Friday 23 to Monday 26 August features street theatre, dance, music, circus and interactive installations as well as a sneak preview of some blockbuster shows due to come to Birmingham Hippodrome in the next months.

In Southside’s Hippodrome Square, the Southside Stage presents Hippodrome Live on Sunday 25 August featuring performances from hit productions including Disney’s Aladdin, SIX, & Juliet, Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby, 42 Balloons, Play On! and Four Felons and a Funeral. Plus audiences will be given a sneak preview of The Jingleclaw, the first production from Birmingham Hippodrome’s New Musical Theatre department. Also on Sunday the Hippodrome celebrates its 125th anniversary with an open day and the chance to explore backstage.



Elsewhere in the festival, which is produced by Birmingham Hippodrome in partnership with Bullring and Grand Central, there are plenty more free activities and shows.

Outside at Bullring and Grand Central across Rotunda Square, Central Street and St Martin’s Square visitors can see a large-scale spectacular theatre and circus show in the sky with Unity from Gorilla Circus. Plus people can get to grips with marbleology with the Marble Awareness Roadshow from UNBOSI and then jump inside a world of coloured foam with Stephanie Lüning’s Island of Foam. There is also the chance to become an artist by covering living artwork Blanko in colour, sit in a woodland glade beneath the stars inside Talking Birds’ The Oakmobile, enjoy a family rave with Big Fish Little Fish and listen to family-friendly jokes at the Comedy Club 4 Kids Show.

Inside Bullring and Grand Central will be the Bullring Dance Stage where highlights include Mark Smith’s Synergy, Walker Movement’s Tread and Break Missions blend of street and classical movement in Swan Break.

Also at Bullring and Grand Central, audiences can place themselves in the Birmingham skyline with Pickle Illustrations Weekender Selfie Studio and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra will present two full orchestral performances featuring up to seventy musicians led by music director Kazuki Yamada.

Edgbaston Street goes green with the Weekender Green Hub where visitors can explore urban gardening, visit the SPARK garden activity zone to see newly commissioned art made from natural and upcycled materials and play a tune with the Orchestra of Objects, ten musical instruments made from industrial cast-offs.



Over in Victoria Square, back by popular demand, The Luminarium provides a maze of winding paths and soaring domes to walk, rest and play within and there’s also the opportunity to experience Trigger’s Teabreak with a cup of tea and an interactive performance.

1000 Trades Square at New Street Station will be transformed into a pop-up Indian garden for Mughal Miniatures from Sonia Sabri Company as well as a circus show using only bamboo and human bodies from No Fit State Circus and a bubble extravaganza. On the concourse Tape That brings together acrobatics and colourful tape while Marshon Dance Company perform dance flashmob.

Birmingham Hippodrome creative director Chris Sudworth said: “This year’s Birmingham Weekender takes us to even more public spaces and surprising places across the city and we can’t wait to share the programme with everyone for the August Bank Holiday weekend. We are delighted to be working with regional, national and international companies to bring the city to life with extraordinary performances and playful, interactive installations around every corner. Additionally, we will be offering more with our access and community provision as well as the first ever Hippodrome Live stage. We’re in for a great long weekend in Brum.” %

For the full Birmingham Weekender programme see here.

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