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Hijinx Unity Festival 2022

Lamp shades in the Glanfa, free pop-up street performances, live music, an exclusive post show club, and ticketed theatre and dance events in the Weston Studio…

Hijinx’s Unity Festival is back at Wales Millennium Centre. Expect the unexpected!

To celebrate its 10th edition, Unity Festival has put together a bumper international programme of events that will not only be here, but also across Cardiff at Porters, Chapter, the Hayes, and also in Bangor and Llanelli.

One of Europe’s largest inclusive and disability arts festivals and the only one of its kind in Wales, the festival will once again be bringing together some of the best inclusive and disability arts and theatre from around the world.

Plus, this year you can join in online via Hijinx's new digital platform, which will host a programme both from Hijinx Unity and it's partner festival, Escena Mobile in Spain.

Get ready for lots of exciting theatre, dance, comedy, film, street theatre pop-ups and a new hybrid digital theatre production. Find out about the free and ticketed events taking place here below, and keep an eye on the Unity Festival website for the full programme.

Wednesday 22 June

Join us in the Glanfa from 6pm for free events ahead of the first ticketed festival performances in the Weston Studio.

At 8pm, Hijinx Unity Festival and tanzbar_bremen present a one-hour dance show called touch me. Recommended for ages 12+ a trio of two male dancers and one female dancer investigate what touch and intimacy triggers in us all.

This dance performance premiered in 2017 and now, after two years of the pandemic, takes on a whole new meaning. With the experience of social distance, it will tell us more about the power of touch.

Thursday 23 June

Join us again from 6.30pm for more free pop up events in the foyer ahead of the evening's ticketed shows.

In the Weston Studio at 8pm, Danza Mobile, one of Europe’s most successful inclusive dance companies, make their sixth Unity Festival visit. Their performances have always gone down a storm and we are convinced that El Festin de los Cuerpos will be no different!

Inspired by Plato, The Symposium, and his ideas of human beings and our natural tendencies, Danza Mobile’s dance piece is a playful look of what makes us, us. Recommended for ages 14+ (contains partial nudity and mature themes).

Friday 24 June

There will be more pre show events (and possibly post show parties!) in the Glanfa on Friday and Saturday before and after the 8pm shows in the Weston Studio. Be sure to check the Unity Festival website for more details about these free events in the next few weeks.

From the award-winning company that brought you Meet Fred and Metamorphosis comes the dawn of a new hybrid theatre experience, and the launch of a new fictitious tech company that you get to experience on Friday night. 

Hijinx have created a brand-new show, the_crash.test, a Frankenstein tale for our age. Recommended for ages 14+, it's a darkly playful take on our relationship with technology, incorporating motion capture puppetry, large scale projection, original composition, with an inclusive cast of performers on stage and via video link, for audiences both in person in the Weston Studio at 8pm, and online.

Saturday 25 June

Vero Cendoya Dance Company present an inclusive, intergenerational, humorous poetic, compelling, dance-theatre epic, inspired by a true tale of when God was put on trial.

Bogumer (or Children of Lunacharsky) is inspired by the Trial of God, which happened in Moscow, 1919. The dance piece explores the search for one’s own identity, the dynamics of power, and the methods by which we are manipulated by the state. Through dance, theatre and humour, they look at power and the search for meaning when God is dead.

Sunday 26 June

The final event of Unity Festival 2022 in Cardiff in the Weston Studio will be the ground-breaking, internationally acclaimed drag collective, Drag Syndrome.

Featuring highly addictive drag Queens and Kings with Down syndrome, they demonstrate to the world that people with Down syndrome aren't just sweet and cute. They are fierce, versatile, hard-working, professional artists who know how to put on a spectacular show and are committed to honing their craft.

Drag Syndrome is currently comprised of Horrora Shebang, Justin Bond, Lady Francesca, Nikita Gold, lady mercury, and Davina Starr.

Expect lots more to be announced over the next few weeks. Keep checking back on this page for more Unity Festival updates or follow the whole festival schedule on the Unity Festival website.