London’s leading free festival of outdoor theatre and performance art, Greenwich + Docklands International Festival, is back for 2025
In 2022, there was a tidal wave of multi-coloured foam that cascaded through Greenwich Peninsula; in 2023, a gaggle of glowing, colour-changing robotic swans floated on the Thames after dark; and in 2024 performers spent eight jaw-dropping hours on top of a block of ice suspended high above the Docklands as it slowly melted away.
This year, Greenwich + Docklands International Festival (GDIF) will see even more spectacular performances across its 16-day programme. 30 companies from across the world will present new work on the theme ‘Above and Beyond’, to celebrate 30 years of the theatre and performing arts festival.
The highlights for 2025 include Above and Beyond, a parkour performance piece taking place across Woolwich buildings by French company Lézards Bleus; The Weight of Water by Dutch company Panama Pictures, where dancers will perform on a huge floating seesawing structure on a lake in Thamesmead; a fusion of circus and robotics with Turning Worlds at Greenwich Peninsula; ‘festival within a festival’ Dancing City, which is partnering with NYC’s Fire Island Dance Festival; Fragments of Us, a dance-theatre piece that explores black masculinity; and the return of Greenwich Fair, with a programme of street theatre, games and family friendly fun.
Speaking about this year’s GDIF, Artistic Director Bradley Hemmings MBE has said: “This year’s theme Above and Beyond grows out of 30 years of delivering GDIF across Greenwich, East London and the City of London. In that time we’ve learned that there are no edges or boundaries in outdoor theatre and the usual distinctions between art and the everyday are often miraculously blurred. This year our “stage” stretches out in all directions – across parks, town centres, basketball courts, roofs and a water space, whilst we also invite audiences to look up, both physically and imaginatively. In the difficult, often fractious times we’re living through, the festival offers a moment in the midst of life’s challenges, to take a breath and experience something uplifting, free and accessible which everyone can enjoy.”
Key Information
Dates | Fri 22nd August – Sat 6th September 2025
Address | Various spaces across Greenwich, Thamesmead and East London
For more information | festival.org
