The Somme tourist board

In June 2007, the 30th edition of la Fête dans la Ville brought some 30,000 spectators to Amiens over 5 days of parades, and now the 31st edition of the festival is about to hit the streets!

The strength of contemporary street arts and theatre lies in their constantly seeking for and experimenting with new types of show while combining the skills of all the theatrical arts, including new technologies. They occupy the urban space with words and installations, talking about social issues and to telling real or imaginary stories.

Thirty companies have been invited to the 2008 edition, to set up in the different neighbourhoods of the city of Amiens, in the surrounding suburbs, and also in unusual places, to meet the inhabitants in their everyday lives, their work and their leisure.

The Acte Théâtral Company will be participating in a project in the St-Maurice neighbourhood, carrying on from a project started last year. Different companies will be visiting other neighbourhoods of Amiens for special events such as Les Commandos Percu at the Safran Centre to the North, Ilotopie on the lake of Parc St-Pierre, the Métalovoice Company with the Harmonie St-Pierre orchestra, Amoros and Augustin in the moat of the Citadel or Art Tout Chaud in the suburbs.

And since Saturday 21 June is the Fête de la Musique, Générik Vapeur will be organising its great rock’n’roll parade, ‘Bivouac’, a show using the whole range of street arts.

The festival will also be an opportunity to renew our acquaintance with the circus troops that will be invading our streets. Jérôme Thomas, an artiste who worked with the Cirque Jules Verne from 2003 to 2006 and who created ‘Rain/Bow’, will be creating again for the streets of Amiens. He will be based with his troop at Le Hangar to prepare a project entitled Papillons!, a fantasy for the streets for circus robes and performers. There will also be new companies to the scene such as Les Choses de Rien for a circus show on water, Sham for an opera performed on bicycles, ActeCorp for a show about Algeria or Chamboule Touthéâtre in the St-Leu neighbourhood who will be presenting a show about clowns in collaboration with the Maison du Théâtre.

There will also be some longstanding street theatre companies in Amiens, such as Ilotopie performing ‘Narcisse Guette’, the Théâtre de l’Unité performing ‘Princesse Limousine’ and ‘Gourmandisiaque’, Annibal and his Elephants performing ‘Misérables!’, and many more.