Star Studded Line-Up for Festival on The Close

Rugby's Festival on The Close runs from 22-26 June 2024.

Preview

A star-studded line-up has been announced for this year’s Festival on The Close, Rugby’s annual festival in aid of Cancer Research UK.

The Festival on The Close brings world-class performance to Rugby Town, with an incredible line-up of professional shows on our purpose-built Tandem Outdoor Arena over five nights in June. The festival is generously sponsored by Tandem Property Management LLP.

The line-up includes:

The ever-popular Manford’s Comedy Club opens the festival on Saturday 22 June at 8pm, headlined by television favourite, comedian Paul Sinha - best-known for his regular appearances on ITV’s The Chase - alongside a stunning line-up of top-quality comedians hand-picked by Jason Manford.

Festival favourites Symphonic Ibiza bring the ultimate party night to Rugby in our headline show on Sunday 23 June at 8pm, fusing full symphony orchestra with high tempo beats, live DJ and vocalist in our biggest party in the park event to date.

Straight from the West End, SHOWSTOPPER! The Improvised Musical take to our outdoor stage on Monday 24 June, 8pm where an amazing cast of West End stars create their very own brand-new musical comedy from scratch, based entirely on audience suggestions.

Tuesday 25 June sees members of the world-famous percussion-dance-theatre sensation STOMP perform live with student stompers at 6pm, followed by Britain's Got Talent stars, FLAWLESS, whose spectacular full-length street dance show will wow audiences at 8pm at the Tandem Outdoor Arena.

On Wednesday 26 June at 8pm, Hometown Glory: A Tribute to Adele will see all your favourite Adele hits come to life, including ‘Set Fire to the Rain’, ‘Make You Feel My Love’ and ‘Someone Like You’ at the Tandem Outdoor Arena.

While on Tuesday 25 June one of the supreme Shakespeare directors of our era and former Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company Sir Gregory Doran will take to the Macready Theatre stage at 6pm to discuss his life and work. Then later that evening, at 7pm, we welcome back award-winning actor Stephen Smith whose one-man musical Apple of My Eye follows the story of the life of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

Elsewhere at the festival, there are plenty of other concerts, shows and other events throughout the festival including Bliss Sinfonia with some of the country’s finest young soloists in concert on Sunday 23 June as well as a stunning performance of Henry Purcell’s Te Deum by the celebrated Canzona Baroque orchestra with Rugby Choristers on Tuesday 25 June at 4.45pm.

Festival Director Dr Tim Coker, said: “I am thrilled to be announcing what promises to be the most spectacular Festival on The Close ever this year. Bringing household names like Flawless, Stomp, Paul Sinha and the West End smash hit Showstopper! The Improvised Musical here to Rugby. Thanks to the support of our generous sponsors, we are also excited once again to be able to welcome over 2,000 children from schools across the region to join our free creative workshop programme, providing unique opportunities to Stomp with the cast of Stomp, or to immerse themselves in our inter-active STEM activities as part of the festival’s STEAMFest.

“As the festival grows year-on-year and attracts new and diverse audiences from across the country, we are proud to be able to give culture and creativity pride of place at the heart of our festival for so many people young and old, as well as raising vital funds for the life-saving work of our partner charity Cancer Research UK, all right here in the centre of this historic town.”

Further shows and acts will be announced in due course. 

Festival on The Close 2024 has been made possible thanks to the kind support of Macready Theatre’s Principal Partners, Tandem Property Management LLP.

To book tickets, visit www.thefestivalontheclose.co.uk