From this weekend the Wales Millennium Centre and surrounding areas will play host to a series of walkabout acts, pop-up performances and circus treats for three weeks as the Blysh Festival gets under way.
Now in its fifth year, the summer event always promises a diverse range of interest - from cabaret and comedy to breathtaking circus stunts, street art and live music with many of the events free of charge.
This year organisers have introduced a baroque-themed Spiegeltent where most of the action will take place.
The baroque-themed Spiegeltent. Photo provided by Wales Millennium Centre
Visitors to the festival this weekend can enjoy free events such as music from the Top Shelf Band, Big Mac's Wholly Soul Band and harmonies in a variety of guises from Kitsch and Sync and also The Siren Sisters.
Literature Wales is also running a free Literary Laundrette on Saturday afternoon where musicians, poets and comedians unite for a live literature event on a cabaret theme.
Performance artists including acrobats Small Job and eccentric clown George Orange and the flamboyant SWICA Carnival dancers will bring a flash of colour and wonder to the streets around the centre while Cardiff's NoFitState Circus will host a circus skills lesson inside the Spiegeltent.
Performers on the gravity-defying Wheel of Death
Other highlights of the festival include immersive theatre from The Great Spavaldos and cabaret acts Frisky and Mannish, Bourgeois & Maurice, and David Hoyle, winner of the best Alternative Performer award in the 2013 London Cabaret Awards.
From 31 July to 3 August the Mary Bijou Cabaret and Social Club will present Hitch, a piece which has been specially commissioned for the festival by the Wales Millennium Centre and ventures into the mind of Alfred Hitchcock.
Bourgeois & Maurice. Photo provided by Wales Millennium Centre
The audience are encouraged to dress as their favourite Hitchcock villains or victims for an edge of the seat performance that promises to be chilling and intriguing.
Blysh is not just aimed at adults, with plenty to entertain families and youngsters, including an opportunity to walk inside the vast gaping jaws of a great silver whale or watch gravity-defying stuntmen grapple with the breathtaking Wheel of Death.
The whale will be at the Blysh festival
Gareth Lloyd Roberts, Producer of Blysh Festival at Wales Millennium Centre, said: "Five years on, the festival is bigger and better than ever before and we’re very proud of it.
"I really want children, young people, students, families, professionals and everyone with a sense of humour to come and join us, raise a glass or an ice cream and help us celebrate Blysh's 5th birthday."
For specific dates, times and prices of the various acts or to book tickets visit wmc.org.uk/blysh or call 029 2063 6464.
