June 2018 saw us heading to East Park, Hull on a scorcher of a weekend, for the second Big Malarkey Festival. Conceived originally for #hull2017, director Ellen Bianchini has secured a bright future for this unique literature festival for families in the great outdoors!
We’ve had the odd bit of involvement in literature events over the years – a Doctor Omnibus event in the 2012 #BevLitFest and the Rusticus Explorer at 2016’s Wakefield Festival of Words as part of #wakefieldlitfest. This was the first time we’d had an event commissioned for the festival – and it was a delight. I’d headed to the first planning meeting with ideas about Mermaids, Hans Christian Anderson and Thumbelina – but Ellen asked for something unique to East Park. A time-travelling adventure which celebrated everything that the park offers to us visitors, and which encourages us to think about it’s future use. From those discussions came the brand new Rusticus Adventure: “Keep off the Path”! featuring a brand new female time travelling professor, and a whole host of curious characters who had something to say about this very special place.
The weekend was glorious and the festival buzzing, and we had a wonderful time with some brilliant families – a highlight being the rallying cry “JUSTICE FOR DUCKS” from the audience, as a small child golfed a lettuce towards a passing moor-hen.
Get in touch if you’d like to commission us for your literature event – or just let your local festival know you’d like them to programme
#thebigmalarkey
#thebigmalarkey
us!
