The Lost Carnival was an annual large-scale outdoor immersive theatre experience from award-winning producers Wild Rumpus (Just So Festival) and So It Is (Bury Met, Head for the Hills – Ramsbottom Festival).
Families witnessed spellbinding theatre and enthralling installations, circus, music, visual trickery and sideshows, as an incredible story unfolds year by year. In 2015, the carnival appeared in Burrs Country Park in Bury, where families saved the carnival from disappearing forever. In 2016, the carnival appeared in Queen’s Park in Crewe, where a spectacular battle between our two rival carnivals, the Birds & the Ingenues took place. In 2017, the carnival families spent the summer in rehearsal, and carnivalistas could visit them backstage at Dunham Massey. We used a range of creative materials including podcasts to tell the unfolding story.
Supported by Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Cheshire East Council, Arts Council England, National Trust.
