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Mardi Gras in Great Yarmouth, where the traditions from both sides of the Channel meet

Friday 12 February 2010 , by Darren Cross

All the versions of this article: [English] [français]

Mardi Gras is coming to Great Yarmouth! On Tuesday 16th February from 3.30-8.30pm in King Street, SeaChange Arts are bringing a little colour to the streets next week with a festival celebrating the growing multi-culturalism of the town, in a ZEPA supported project.

The event features a mix of street performance, cabaret, international cuisine, workshops and games, the highlight being a specially commissioned twist on the traditional British pancake race.

Total Crepe has been produced by Nick Warburton and Paul Mills and sees professional performers working alongside competitors from the international communities in a hilarious carnival-inspired race. Both Nick and Paul of ‘Stuff & Things’ were recently seen at l’Atelier 231’s Fish & Chips. They have combined elements of the traditional race with theatre, performance and music to ensure a slapstick spectacle.

“Mardi Gras is a great French carnival tradition,” says SeaChange’s Joe Mackintosh. “In Britain, it is known simply as ‘Pancake Day’ so we wanted to blend the ingredients of the two into something completely new. Total Crepe takes a great British tradition and re-invents it as a participatory performance .

The King Street Mardi Grasis focused around an area of the town identified as a developing cultural quarter. The street is the location of a new £8m project which will provide Great Yarmouth with a new multi-arts venue and sits adjacent to St George’s park where SeaChange stage their annual Out There festival.

SeaChange are currently looking to relocate to the street and Joe sees it being the cultural hub of the town in years to come. It’s a natural and potentially vibrant location. There’s already a large number of international communities resident there and the street forms part of the port area – an historic international gateway. We see the King Street Mardi Gras as being the first step in raising awareness and aspirations within the community as to how they can contribute toward the area’s cultural growth .

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