Enjoy some Serious Nonsense at Prescot

Prescot’s Serious Nonsense Festival returns this weekend promising three days of “nonsense, chaos and capers”.

The Rev Richard Coles and Anne, Lady Dodd are among those appearing at the 2023 event.

The festival, which celebrates Knowsley’s connections to poet Edward Lear, emerged from the area’s year as Liverpool City Region Borough of Culture in 2022 when the inaugural event attracted 15,000 visitors.

This year’s festival takes place from August 11-13 and includes music, poetry, film, acrobatics and more and most of the programme is free, while ticketed shows at Shakespeare North Playhouse are on a ‘pay what you decide’ basis.

Events kick off on Friday, August 11 with a day of free workshops at Shakespeare North Playhouse celebrating 50 years of hip-hop.

Across the weekend the Prospero Place venue will also host family entertainment, poetry readings from award-winning poets, a masterclass from musician and film director Carl Hunter, and Tales from the Vicarage with the Rev Richard Coles and special guest Anne, Lady Dodd.

Other attractions in the town centre over the festival weekend include fortune telling by Madame Zsa Zsa, the acrobatic Black Eagles, giant cheeky kangaroos and lifelike dinosaurs.

The young poet and artist Edward Lear met the 13th Earl of Derby in London and was invited by him to come to Knowsley Hall to paint the animals there. He spent the best part of six years staying at Knowsley and it was at the hall that he created his most famous verse, The Owl and the Pussy-cat.

Serious Nonsense is being staged by outdoor arts specialists Walk the Plank and funded by Knowsley Borough Council, Arts Council England, Prescot High Street Heritage Action Zone and UKSPF, with support from the Prescot Cultural Consortium, Shakespeare North Playhouse, Imaginarium Theatre and Milap.

The Serious Nonsense Festival takes place in Prescot from August 11-13. Details and tickets HERE