Rugby League World Cup: Leeds streets to host spectacular show
and live on Freeview channel 276
The Power of Performance: This Is Us - a two hour event - aims to bring the atmosphere and passion of the sport out of the stadium and onto the streets.
It will take over three city centre locations on Friday, October 28, from 4pm to 6pm.
The performance areas will be Victoria Square (Leeds Art Gallery), Cookridge Street (Radisson Blu) and Millennium Square.
And all this before kick-off – New Zealand play Ireland in a men’s match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds, on Fri 28 October, from 7.30pm.
BUY WORLD CUP TICKETS: Tickets for RLWC21 games, subject to availability, can be purchased at www.rlwc2021.com/tickets.
This specially-commissioned free show, which features dance, music and aerial performance, tells three unique stories about the game and its people, charting how it has evolved from its roots to the sport we see today which inspires such passion in its fans.
The three story locations will simultaneously host their own 12 minutes show, followed by a 10 minutes break to give audiences the time to move between the three.
Each has its own short story and purpose but the collective narrative is about rising against the odds to triumph by coming together – The Power of Together.
The Stories
ORIGINS: About how the working class broke free from the ruling classes and formed a new game.
PASSING THE TORCH: How the game became more inclusive and diverse through pioneering players who have broken down barriers.
THE VISCERAL GAME: About the special connection between fans and players and how the Rugby League World Cup aims to cement that togetherness, through the visceral sacrifice of the body on the pitch and the spiritual uplifting song from the terraces.
The transitions will be punctuated with processional activity.
It forms part of the Rugby League World Cup Cultural Festival - an ambitious, inclusive, multidisciplinary showcase, funded by Arts Council England and bringing together audiences for sport and art around the tournament.
Taking place in four of the tournament host cities - Leeds, Hull, Newcastle and Manchester - the festival will amplify the tournament’s strap line of The
Power of Together and celebrate inclusivity and positive social impact.
It will feature a central company of professional performers collaborating with a participant cast drawn from local people who were invited to take part.
The Power of Performance: This is Us is produced by Pinwheel, directed by Robby Graham / Southpaw Dance Company with Simon Sharkey as writer and artistic advisor.
The Cultural Festival programme includes two other different strands - The Power of Poetry, an epic touring public art and poetry commission and The Power of Connecting, a programme of engagement activities rolled out across 34 library services.
Pinwheel is the Creative Director and Producer for the Cultural Festival, commissioned by RLWC2021. The partners are Leeds 2023, Newcastle City Council, Hull City Council and Libraries Connected
The festival has been generously funded by Arts Council England.
The Power of Performance has already wowed fans in Newcastle. Hull's Trinity Square, Zebedee’s Yard and Queen Victoria Square was due to host the second date on Saturday, October 22.
Leeds is next Friday, 4pm to 6pm, then Manchester, which will feature just Zone Three, on Friday, November 18 at the earlier time of 5pm to 7pm.
For more information about the Rugby League World Cup Festival – CLICK HERE.-READ MORE:Rugby League World Cup – how to get ticketsRugby League World Cup: When Wane met SouthgateGrassroots sign-up call to kick off Rugby League World CupWATCH VIDEOS:A short history of the Rugby League World Cup