Ensemble Festival 2026 will return to London’s Royal Victoria Docks on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 July, offering a free weekend of circus, dance and theatre for audiences of all ages.
Presented by Certain Blacks, the festival celebrates its seventh edition with a diverse programme of bold and thought-provoking performances running from 12pm to 8pm each day.
This year’s line-up explores themes including identity, ritual and ecology through a mix of physical storytelling, music theatre and contemporary circus.
Highlights include Fragments of Us from Talawa Theatre in collaboration with FUBUNATION and Sonia Hughes, a dance and spoken word work examining ancestry, belonging and shared experiences.
Also featured is Garbh by Shyam Dattani and Mira Salat, a reimagining of Gujarati folk dance through contemporary choreography and immersive design.
Daughters of the Wire present ElevateHer, a high-wire performance celebrating female empowerment, while Nigel “Kobby” Taylor’s The Torch blends Afrobeat, hip-hop and storytelling to explore identity and legacy.
Ferdinando + Bernstein’s Stick and Stone offers a playful yet poignant reflection on nature and ecological crisis through physical comedy and visual imagery.
Further performances include Balance by Brainfools, a contemporary circus piece using found objects, and Captain C-Man by Cormac Mohally, a family-friendly juggling show.
The festival also showcases work from Catalan artists, including Cris Clown’s U.F.A., Nacho Flores’ Domte and Teatro en Movimiento Callejerx’s Water Silhouettes.
Following recent funding from Arts Council England’s Creative Foundations Fund, Certain Blacks will invest in more sustainable infrastructure to improve accessibility across the festival.
Clive Lyttle, Artistic Director of Certain Blacks says: “I was recently asked by a group of young Black men where I was from – ‘Are you from Somalia? No. Are you from Jamaica? No. So you think you are British? Why? You aren’t from here?’ – ‘I was born in Lewisham Hospital; the same place my mum worked all her life and where she died so, this is where I’m from.’ The work in the festival touches on this conversation of identity and what it is to be diverse, or different or care about the world. It’s a pleasure to present work from artists that engage with these themes and we are grateful for the support of our funders, community and friends, which enable us to keep telling these stories”
More information can be found here.
