Without Walls to Deliver Ten New Outdoor Arts Commissions Across England

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Works include DAUGHTERS OF THE WIRE and shows exploring Black identity, climate, and human connection

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Outdoor arts consortium Without Walls is bringing ten new commissions to festivals up and down the country in 2026, kicking off this month at Norfolk and Norwich Festival and Brighton Festival, and running at other festivals around England until September.

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From theatre to dance to music to wire walking, audiences can expect a rich mix of styles and genres that are the hallmark of contemporary outdoor arts. Several reflect on issues ranging from female empowerment to the experience of Black men and boys, and the climate emergency to human connection.

The commissioning festivals that selected the 2026 programme are Brighton Festival, Norfolk & Norwich Festival, Stockton International Riverside Festival, Birmingham Weekender, Certain Blacks - Ensemble Festival (London), Greenwich+Docklands International Festival (London), An Indian Summer Festival (Leicester), and new for 2026, Freedom Festival (Hull) and Activate/Inside Out Dorset. Presented in outdoor spaces, Without Walls events are free to attend.

Ralph Kennedy, Chief Executive at Without Walls, says, "We're delighted to be bringing these shows to festivals around the country over the coming months. They represent part of a fantastic Without Walls programme that people can enjoy for free. Each show celebrates the vibrant future of outdoor arts and in increasingly polarised times, we want to bring moments of joy, wonder and belonging that help us start new conversations and imagine different ways forward."

A joyous all female wire walking show, played out across three multi-level interconnecting wires telling the stories of six performers through music, spoken word and movement. Celebrating female camaraderie and sisterhood. Daughters of the Wire are a female led company with a strong belief in female empowerment, community and equality. Daughters of the Wire are supporting female artists, mothers and neurodivergent women to have a strong voice in the worlds of circus and outdoor arts.

A 5-metre-tall mechanical puppet, co-designed with learning disabled (LD) adults and children. An awe-inspiring, 5 metre tall, motorised giant, vibrating with a built-in sound system and dancing to the beat of their own drum - which hosts a DJ. They have four interactive faces, one of which is interchangeable and responds to the people and places they visit.

We have lost 50% of all wild things. What are we going to do? Communicating through physical comedy and visual imagery, Ferdinando + Bernstein face the climate breakdown with the joy of idiocy and play. They invite all citizens of this place to discover the simplicity of a stick and stone. Feel the rough bark in your hand and let it be a guide back to the woods. Hold the stone, it is the mountain and the shoreline. Doom scrolling is over. Ferdinando + Bernstein are two people who have enjoyed the carefree nature of comedy and improvisation, mainly physical. They write words to inspire their actions. Some get used in their projects. They both live in woods and gardens, nurturing nature connectedness. They draw, they create prints, they sing sometimes.

CHAIR! celebrates the act of sitting down. When did our public seating disappear and what would happen if we brought it back? Set in a dreamlike world, CHAIR! imagines how we could once again have public spaces that care. Where people can sit uninterrupted, ready to relax, work, remember and have time and place to dream. This performance features everyday and surreal objects and activities - and chairs - and shows that everyone has the right to sit down. Geraldine Pilgrim is a site-specific director/designer and installation artist. She is known for socially engaged participatory performances creating contemporary dialogues with occupied and empty buildings, landscapes and historic houses. She uses their architecture and history (both imagined and real) as inspiration and narrative.

A high-energy gig-theatre experience where Afrobeat, hip-hop, rap and storytelling collide - powered by live DJ decks and shimmering synths. The cast have multiple roles as musicians and actors, slipping between characters and the band. With comedy, heartbreak and a beat-driven narrative about not fitting in, The Torch celebrates identity, legacy and the moment you finally discover your own light.

Nigel 'Kobby' Taylor are a four-piece multi-role gig-theatre ensemble blending live percussion, keys, grand harp, DJ decks and rap performance bringing audiences work that is bold, entertaining and rooted in real experiences.

Tender Exchange invites you to pause for a moment of connection in the midst of a busy world. Whisper something that matters to you into a carved wooden heart - a hope, a truth, a memory, or a thought you want held - and pass it to someone you trust. The heart beats gently in your hands, and as more voices gather inside it, the rhythm shifts, signalling that it is full and ready to return. Radical Ritual creates inclusive folk artworks that reweave connection in a fragmented world, inviting people to gather, be seen and heard, and build deeper relationships with one another and the places they share.

Garbh (womb) is an innovative, in-the-round, outdoor dance work that reimagines ancient Gujarati Folk Dance 'Garba', giving voice to this underrepresented ancestral form through contemporary choreography and immersive design. Honouring divine feminine energy 'Shakti', Garbh embodies the source of life, force of transformation, and essence of motherhood. The ensemble, orbiting a lit, central clay lantern that signifies life within the womb, explores themes of community, creation, resilience, and unity, transforming public spaces into vibrant sites of shared celebration and embodied ritual.

Shyam Dattani is a London-based mover and maker whose practice is grounded by strong technique, training and choreographic thinking in Kathak, while training professionally with Urja Desai Thakore, Pagrav Dance Co. His work is grounded by collectivity, care and the community, reflecting the cultural significance of being a diasporically-trained dance artist and is informed by his queer experience.

As Talawa celebrates 40 years, Fragments of Us is an evocative outdoor performance centred around a cast of Black boys and men in an intimate production that explores themes of identity, resilience, vulnerability, and the beauty of shared experience.

Through fluid movement and poignant poetry, the performers reveal fragments of their stories - snapshots of joy, struggle, love, and loss - that resonate deeply within the collective human experience. As the dancers weave intricate formations, they invite audience members to experience a tapestry of personal narratives expressed through the powerful fusion of dance and spoken word. These spontaneous interactions create an intimate dialogue encouraging the audience members to reflect on their own life stories and connections.

Meanwhile, the rest of the cast captivates the wider audience, striking a balance between the personal and the communal. With rhythmic beats and soulful expressions, Fragments of Us not only showcases individual narratives but also celebrates the strength of brotherhood and the collective history that shapes their identities. Fragments of Us serves as a reminder of the power of vulnerability, the richness of community, and the shared tapestry of life.

A duet led by Vidya Thirunarayan and directed and designed by David Glass. This vibrant, funny, and beautifully episodic performance playfully explores the mythic feminine as she struggles, often absurdly, through our climate catastrophe. She stumbles, she dances, she transforms. Clay, stones, water, and sand erupt across the space in a visually startling drama set to a rich global soundscape, where the rawness of earth converges with myth and ritual. Internationally renowned as a Bharatanatyam dancer, Vidya Thirunarayan is also a prominent ceramicist. In 2015, she began producing and promoting work that blends her dual expertise as a dancer and potter. Her first work, Lives of Clay (2021/22), directed by Tim Supple, was supported by Without Walls and toured nationally, as well as to flagship festivals in India, including Serendipity Arts Festival (Goa) and the Tata Literature Festival (Mumbai).

Kismat Walla captures the bustling atmosphere of South Asian market streets, 'Kismat Walla' is a two-person street theatre puppet show set on and around a magical rairi (cart) telling a puppet play about fate, fortune and serendipity. Based in West Yorkshire, Thingumajig Theatre creates and performs innovative puppet shows and interactive giant puppet street acts throughout the UK and beyond.

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/uk-regional/article/Without-Walls-Will-Present-Ten-New-Outdoor-Arts-Commissions-Across-England-20260507)._