News

Camp Bestival Announce Arts And Literature Line Up

• 26th Mar 2010

Having recently announced Fairy Tales as this year’s fancy dress theme and a host of knee-slapping comedy turns, the Camp Bestival crew are turning their attention to all the incredible extra-curricular cultural pursuits and surprises that make Camp Bestival so much more than just a festival.

As ever, Rob da Bank and his trusty team have worked long and hard gathering together a host of party favours and cerebral treats that will amaze and amuse to join our mind-blowingly eclectic musical line-up that includes the likes of Madness, Friendly Fires, Human League, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic and Calvin Harris from July 3oth to August 1st at Lulworth Castle on Dorset’s dramatic Jurassic coast.

Rob da Bank ruminates: “Bookworms, theatre buffs and poets, roll up and feast your eyes on the East Lulworth Literary Institute's fine array of arts activities. With a much bigger tent and lots more random happenings around site, this years Arts line-up really does have something for all the family. I'm particularly excited about seeing new additions Jon Ronson, the Kids Chorus singalong and your chance to get on the stage yourself in A Chapter In My Life. Not forgetting Scroobius Pip’s amazing line up of spoken wordsmiths.”

The cultural centre of this year’s Camp Bestival will be the East Lulworth Literary Institute. Set to be a hive of erudite amusements all weekend long we are very pleased to announce that legendary rock photographer Kevin Cummins is joining William Orbit, Andrea Arnold, Simon Raymonde and DJ Derek to share his insights into How To Be A Music Photographer. For those that enjoy the soothing sounds of narration we will have Author Readings so you can snuggle up and settle down for story time listening to readings from some of the best contemporary authors on the block, including: ‘Apples’ and ‘Ten Storey Lovesong’ author Richard Milward, Joe Dunthorne who penned the wonderful ‘Submarine’ and Jon Ronson who wrote ‘The Men who Stare at Goats’, which was recently made into a blockbuster movie starring George Clooney!

Poet and illustrator, Laura Dockrill (Dockers MC) is back at Camp Bestival by popular demand as part of Book Slam. Reinvigorating and reinventing the stilted world of book reading Book Slam brings literature into a more exciting social context borrowing a little rock ‘n’ roll ethos from the live music scene and transporting it into the world of spoken word and literature to create a unique ‘literary nightclub’ experience.

Speaking of Spoken Word, the cream of spoken word talent will be collected together by Camp Bestival favourite, Scroobius Pip to treat your ears to their latest offerings, with hip hop sensation Kate Tempest, politically-sussed refusenik Itch (King Blues) and tall tales and sonic sorcery from Ventriloquist plus Chris Hicks, Tim Clare, Ross Sutherland, Dizraeli, Sarah Olowofoyeku, Poem Inbetween People and of course, Scroobius Pip himself.

The scholastic and fantastic won't just be confined to The East Lulworth Literary Institute as we are delighted to welcome the Roundhouse Collectives for their debut festival performances! Over the past two years, Camden's legendary Roundhouse has launched and produced a number of creative companies, all under the age of 25 that have performed at the Roundhouse and at venues across the country. This year several of the Roundhouse Companies are coming to Camp Bestival and will be performing an array of Theatre, Circus, Caberet and Poetry.

There will be a chance for 50 kids at Camp Bestival to take part in a live performance on one of the main stages! The Dulwich Ukulele Club, famed for creating The Night of 100 Ukes and The Camp Bestival Jug Band, are inviting the kids of Camp Bestival to join them for a mass performance to form the Camp Bestival Kids Chorus – an unforgettable chance to have a really rocking festival experience!

Plus there will be A Chapter of My Life, which is a unique opportunity to tell your very own real life story to audiences at Camp Bestival. It could be funny, intriguing, unbelievable, moving or uplifting – share one of your personal experiences with the audience and let them into a chapter of your life! Stories should be submitted to mail before the festival and the best ones will be selected to feature in this special story telling experience. Stories should last 5-10 minutes each, all ages welcome!

Finally, Gideon Reeling will be creating another world in the Dingly Dell this year: The Beaten Track which will happen nightly from 8.30-11.00pm. The darkly comic tale of the Inhabitants of the Village continues: progress marches and the path of true love is beaten down with Time. But there are bubblings under the surface of the darkest waters. The tree insists on growing and quietly struggles to reach for the light. The Village they build will also be the location for theatre performances, cabaret, poetry and loads of other activities throughout the day, including The Dead Poet's Society who will be mixing ghostly verse with the tripped out sounds of nature, sending John Betjamin deep into the echo chamber. So if you come down to the woods you're sure of a big surprise!