UNITY FESTIVAL FAMILY DAY  SATURDAY 15^TH JULY 2013

WALES MILLENNIUM CENTRE, CARDIFF BAY.

Elizabeth Sumner  3^rd Age Critic

Unity Festival presented by Hijinx Theatre held its sixth festival from 12^th –22^nd June 2013. Unity celebrates the best in inclusive arts and brings together international, national and local performers.  The programme included performances of dance, drama and music and a family weekend of free entertainment.

It was the family day that I visited and in order to get a true picture I took with me my great nephew Harri, 8yrs old and my great niece Summer, 6yrs old.  The weather was not particularly kind to us being extremely windy and prone to heavy showers.  However, we did not let this spoil our day.

We arrived early expecting crowds but it was very quiet and we were the first to partake in some of the activities.  Harri loved the mountain bike course which was more difficult than it first appeared and I tried out my strength on the static cycle which recorded your speed during one minute of all out effort.  I am proud to say I achieved a speed of 28.05 m.p.h.  Not bad for a 63yr old. Summer then entered a competition to draw how she saw Cardiff in the future and produced an interesting concept of hot air balloons.  Well, the traffic is particularly bad so who knows? 

Harri then tried his hand at throwing clay to make a pot and was so impressed with his efforts he went back a second time to make a very impressive bowl. By then we had been joined by my daughter, Katie and she and Summer had a stab at making vases with varying degrees of success but all terrific fun.

The children both loved the juggling, plate spinning and diablo stall where a very patient and very talented Gavin taught them the skills.  This was something Harri kept wanting to return to but unfortunately at a stage in the afternoon the wind became so fierce some of the stalls, including that one, had to be dismantled for safety’s sake.

The highlight of the day for me was the performance of Ted Hughes’ Iron Man staged by Graeae Theatre Company.  This was beautifully done with the enormous Iron Man puppet so cleverly manoeuvred by members of the cast.  The cast engaged with the audience beforehand wandering through chatting to the children then teaching us all some sign language. The story was told exactly as Ted Hughes had written it. The acting was superb and the versatile set and wonderful musical accompaniment gave us a real treat.  It was totally inclusive with sign language used in tandem with speech.  After the performance there was a rush of excited children who couldn’t wait to touch the iron man and have their photographs taken with the cast, all of whom were so obliging.  I would heartily recommend that if ever you see this company advertised you take your children to see them.

There was another performance for youngsters but, unfortunately we missed that one as we went to see an interesting fashion show which showed ingenious ways of making wonderful outfits out of such things as discarded umbrellas, old sheets and curtains.

The whole day, for us, was superb.  It was such a shame that there were far fewer people there than I expected.  I don’t know if the weather put them off or if it was a lack of advertising.  Not living in Cardiff I must admit I had never heard of it before but will definitely be going again. The children’s verdicts?  COOL!

Incidentally, I returned to the cycle stall to see if anyone had beaten my record and was told that I was the female winner but I couldn’ t allow myself a victory lap as I had been the only female to enter. Come on ladies I throw down the challenge.