Popular Festival of Fools set to return to Belfast, April 29 - May 1

Ireland’s largest free street performance festival returns with its 2023 programme in Belfast City Centre from April 29 until May 1, 2023.

The programme offers three days of jam-packed, all-inclusive entertainment for the whole family including circus, magic, puppetry and much more.

It takes place at various locations across Belfast City, and with all daytime shows free to attend, this is a festival you don’t want to miss.

Following on from a hugely successful 2022 programme, Festival of Fools returns in April with three days of the best local and international circus and street performance talent taking over the city streets across the Bank Holiday Weekend.

This year’s programme features a host of award winning talent from across the globe including Irish, Swedish, Korean, English and Portuguese nationals and for the first time offers a range of drop-in workshops for children and adults alike and performances by young people in partnership with 2 Royal Avenue, Belfast.

Highlights from this year’s festival, include highly skilled, breathtaking swinging trapeze performances from Avital and Jochen, a duo from Germany providing the Big Finish in Writer’s Square on both Saturday and Sunday.

There’ll be an ingenious aerial show around and on top of a black taxi with Pirates of the Carabina, world class unicycling by Janna Wohlfarth and the usual amount of comedy and acrobatic chaos on the streets of Belfast with Gary & Pel, Cat & Mouse Theatre and local company Síolta Circus.

In addition to the daytime programme, FoF returns with three very special evening shows on May 2 –4 with Bricolage, bringing together a selection of new works by some of Ireland’s freshest up and coming artists for an evening that promises to be unlike anything you’ve seen before.

Jenna Hall, Festival of Fools chief executive, said: ‘"We are so excited to launch Festival of Fools 2023. With over 70 professional shows and a community programme that includes performances and drop in workshops you can both be wowed by both local and international artists and give circus a go yourself. Once again, the programme really does offer something for everyone, and includes a few ‘first-time’ elements too.

"We aim to surprise, challenge and inspire Belfast audiences through the power of internationally renowned street performance, arts and circus. This year’s programme is more diverse than ever before with acts including juggling, magic, acrobatics, puppetry, unicycling, trapeze and much much more. In addition to the international artists we are pleased to have a number of local circus companies performing and of course a few festival favourites are back with new shows.

“Once again, the daytime programme is completely free to attend and takes place across the city from 1pm – 7pm each day. Both Saturday and Sunday will end with a spectacular trapeze show at Writers’ Square at 6pm and Monday will see the return of a classic Big Finish at St. Anne’s Square, also at 6pm.

"We know that Festival of Fools brings the city to life, inspires people to see the city and each other differently, and we are delighted to be able to offer this truly accessible and brilliant opportunity to everyone.”

For the full Festival of Fools programme click here.