‘FOLK music and circus with your oysters?’

That’s the question being asked ahead of the Pommery Dorset Seafood Festival which is welcoming international performers for a one-off ‘signature’ event as part of the 10th anniversary celebrations this year.

As well as incredible seafood, celebrity chefs, tastings and demonstrations, the festival around Weymouth harbourside will welcome Dutch-based Le Cirque du Platzak with Kermiz, their “darkly-comic circus adventure” for all the family.

With eastern European folk music played live, the show’s characters include a man with a fascination for lawnmowers and lettuce, a temperamental Italian aerialist fighting with a Spanish toreador and an acrobat obsessed with staplers.

The ticketed event is presented by Inside Out Dorset, the flagship festival event of producers Activate Performing Arts which promotes and presents theatre, dance and outdoor arts in the county.

As well as a circus, Inside Out Dorset is also bringing music with Rock the Boat Street Guitars.

Visitors will be invited to play five acoustic guitars sheltered inside brightly-coloured upturned boats dotted around the festival. The musical upcycled old sailing dinghies are a nod to Weymouth’s important maritime heritage.

Le Cirque du Platzak were a huge success in Gillingham at the 2016 Inside Out Dorset festival.

They are an international collective of 12 musicians and young circus artists that met for the first time in Tilburg, the Netherlands.

Dom Kippin, Inside Out Dorset Producer at Activate, said: “It’s a bit of everything you’d imagine in a circus but it’s a bit skewed. It’s set in a bar, with lots of different characters and there’s juggling, fire-eating, trapeze work, with a live band playing along. It’s a great family show with audience engagement.”

He added: “This was a perfect opportunity for the seafood festival and ourselves to come together, in the festival’s tenth year. Inside Out is every two years so this year we’re fundraising and preparing – so this event is a one-off signature event outside our normal festival year.”

It is funded by Coasters, Pommery Dorset Seafood Festival, Weymouth BID and Weymouth & Portland Borough Council.

The seafood festival, which raises funds for Fishermen’s Mission, draws crowds of more than 50,000 people and is home to the top names in seafood producers, chefs, and fishermen – for the weekend of July 8 and 9.

  • Le Cirque du Platzak – Kermiz, will be performed on Saturday, July 8 and Sunday, July 9 at 3pm, North Quay, Weymouth. Seated tickets £10 (concessions £8). Floor tickets £6. For tickets call 01305 260954 or visit www.insideoutdorset.co.uk For more information on the Pommery Dorset Seafood Festival see www.dorsetseafood.co.uk