Words that Sing! | |
| Venues | Charlie Wells Music |
Airedale Library Sandal Library Pontefract Library Featherstone Library 
| A series of music and rhyme and craft workshops for younger audiences will explore the lyrical sounds of our language for young families.
Charlie will be collecting their work and the everyday sounds of our library spaces and will be producing a soundscape to represent the festival and the words and thoughts of library users. |
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Overdue | |
| Venues | Cuckoos Egg Theatre written and directed by Paul Bateson |
Castleford library Pontefract Library Horbury Library Hemsworth Library
| A new play for two actors set in a library.
Overdue looks at what to do with those young people who no-one knows what to do with.
A young excluded girl and a stressed out teacher with a passion for words given the job to work with him.
Over their sessions in the local library, they make a connection.
Suitable for audiences 12+ and adults. |
Story Pots | |
| Venues | Stride Theatre |
Airedale Library Pontefract Library Normanton Library Featherstone Library 
| Live interactive storytelling for families with children of all ages including those with learning disabilities.
Join drama tutors from Stride Theatre and their young apprentices on an exciting journey where families create their own unique story inspired by a pot of random props.
20-minute imaginative story sessions where a small number of families will take themselves an adventure never written before!
The resources used in these sessions have been developed by Stride Theatre's own team of young imagineers!
Performed in selected local schools. |
Telling Tale Tales | |
| Venues | Theatre Royal Wakefield |
Airedale Library Pontefract Library Featherstone Library 
| Three traditional tales have been dramatised exclusively for WordFest and will be performed at selected libraries by a well-known actor and accompanied by a facilitator and a musician.
The Hare and the Tortoise (for ages 5-7) Jack and the Beanstalk (for ages 7-11) Thor vs. Loki: Thunder in Asgard (for ages 11-14)
They will be performed at three libraries on Saturdays in October. Booking is via the library and spaces are limited owing to social distancing; these productions will be filmed and shown online through the festival as well.
Attendees at the performances will then be invited to a series of workshops at the theatre in half term week. Music workshops during half term at the theatre are also available for young people 14-25+ with learning difficulties (the music workshops are bookable via the theatre). |
Things People Say | |
16 October-31 November | Neon Workshops - Richard William Wheater |
Above Neon Workshops - George Street, Wakefield 
| A flippant remark will be painstakingly emblazoned in to an unforgettable 6 x 4 metre neon sign.
This animated neon beacon will be visible day or night.
See how the artist works with specially recorded time-lapse installation recording online and surprise augmented reality feature. |
The Storybox | |
| Venues | Certainty of Chance Theatre directed by Stephen Brennan |
Selected local schools 
| One box, a ticking clock, and a brand new piece of theatre. Storybox is a workshop for young people aged 7–11 that develops storytelling techniques, resilience, confidence and communication skills and teamwork.
The groups of children are given an opening line and a thematic brief, and a box of props, costumes and instruments.
Led by a professional practitioner, the group undertake a series of drama exercises and storytelling games to help them to create a new piece of theatre against the clock.
This piece of theatre is then shared to an invited audience.
Performed in selected local schools. |
Unfinished Business exhibition | |
| Venue | British Library, Dreamtime Creative CIC |
Wakefield Library 22 Oct – 24 Dec 2020 Pontefract Library 9 Jan – 21 Feb 2021 
| Unfinished Business: The Fight for Women's Rights, is a British Library Exhibition which is coming to Wakefield Library from 23rd October 2020. The free exhibition explores how feminist activism in the UK today has its roots in the complex history of women's rights. Complementing this exhibition will be 'Suppressed Suffragists: Visible Visionaries' an Arts Council funded artistic response by local young men and women led by Dreamtime Creative and the Forgotten Women of Wakefield project. |
Postcards from Wakefield exhibition | |
| Venue | Postcards from Wakefield project |
Wakefield Library 1–15 Oct 2020
| An exhibition of postcards hand-written by local people with positive wellbeing messages written as part of a mental health awareness project which began in 2019. |
Christopher Nibble | |
| Venues | Topsy Turvy Theatre |
Airedale Library Normanton Library Hemsworth Library South Elmsall Library Horbury Library Wakefield Library Pontefract Library Castleford Library 
| Written especially for children aged 2-7 (and their big people too) and told with Topsy Turvy Theatre's own blend of energetic storytelling, handmade puppets, original music and stunning scenery, Christopher Nibble is an uplifting story of one guinea pigs selfless undertaking to help halt the disappearance of the delicious dandelion forever! |
Renewii Recycled events | |
| Venues | Renewii Waste partnership |
Horbury Library Airedale Library Hemsworth Library South Elmsall Library 
| Reuse and recycle with Renewii to create some upcycled words by crafting something from junk paper products. A number of different workshops are on offer for different ages toddler to adult so try your hand at turning old words, books, newspapers, magazines into something new. |