As part of Blackpool’s Showzam! festival, Walk the Plank will transform Blackpool centre, as fire, light, steam and theatre invade the town…

A bigger and better Heat the Streets returns on 21st February 2009, showcasing celebrated and alternative artists from the UK and beyond, and featuring returning favourites, specially commissioned shows, and world premières.

An exclusive new and intimate show from La Machine (the artists who created the spider in Liverpool) and a specially commissioned piece from pyrotechnic experts ESFX, will be joined by existing work from Arcadia, Rag and Bone, and PAKA, culminating in a spectacular finale by Dark Spark.

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THE PROGRAMME

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In the beginning

The evenings antics will kick off with a magical parade at 4pm. The procession will make it’s way around the town centre, accompanied by street theatre, artists and performers.

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From 5pm - 8.30

The town is transformed as amazing shows and performers take to the streets

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Who: PAKA, Flogging a Dead Horse

PAKA, the eccentric and adventurous artist, and his beautifully peculiar mechanical horse Rusty, will be joining Heat the Streets this year to entertain, thrill and mesmerize.

Known for all kinds of work, from Pyrotechnic Spectaculars in Dutch Underground Art Festivals, to Theatrical Mime, (for the London International Mime Festival) PAKA and all his machine gadgetry and fire spectacularity will combine to create a must see ride-about performance in Blackpool.

Where: Cross Roads of Bank Hey Street and Victoria Street

When: 5 – 5.35, 6.05 – 6.40, 7.10 – 7.45

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Who: Arcadia, Blazing Boulevards

Arcadia, a young company of artists and technicians, are specialists in taking scrap materials and creating something spectacular. Their installations are an alternative and beautiful fiery form of art and sculpture that is often closely intertwined with special effects and synchronised to music…

As part of Heat the Streets, Blackpool will experience a forest of fiery Victorian lampposts being strangled by metal trees as the nature takes over and blows fire in to the sky! www.arcadiaspectacular.com.”

Where: The Palace Discotheque

When: 5.35 – 5.55, 6.30 – 6.50, 7.25 – 7.45

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Who: Rag and Bone, The Beast of Blackpool

Rag and Bone breathe new life into outdoor theatre and processional traditions; digging up, cobbling together and inventing rituals & celebrations, transforming rubbish and detritus into dream machines, beautiful mechanical creatures, and awakening fiery giants…

The company will be visiting Heat the Streets at Blackpool this February, accompanied by their 6 piece street band ‘Tongues of Fire’. A Leviathan Horn and a Pandaemonium Engine, amongst other interesting instruments, will create a riot of brass & percussion, as they attempt to summon the Beast of Blackpool on the town’s Adelphi Street. www.rag-bone.org”

Where: Adelphi Street

When: 5 – 5.40, 6.15 – 6.35 (band only), 7.05 – 7.45

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Who: La Machine, Resonances

La Machine is a collaboration between artists, designers, fabricators and technicians, led by Artistic Director François Delarozière. Since 1990, the company have been creating extraordinary theatrical machines, permanent installations and theatrical productions.

Best known in the UK for their beautiful and mesmerising performance of the large mechanical spider in Liverpool, La Machine will return this February, performing a more intimate piece for Heat the Streets at Blackpool, including sound and effects by Thierry Loridant, Jerry Barford, Dominique Malan and Rémi Tarbagayre. Expect resonators, gas flames, and La Machine’s mechanical and poetic universe…

Where: Tower Street

When: 5.10 – 5.25, 5.55 – 6.10, 6.45 – 7.00, 7.30 – 7.45

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Who: ESFX, Spontaneous Combustion

ESFX, specialists in pyrotechnics, fire shows and special effects bring the specially commissioned ‘Spontaneous Combustion’ to Blackpool. This cutting edge, special effects kinematic fire sculpture invites you to delve into the mad professor’s workshop…

Watch and witness a love of combustion and movement evolve into some fascinating inventions. Laboratory technicians come up with some very interesting innovations as they learn how to change the colour of flames and project their work high into the sky. A burning wheel combined with some intriguing movement leads to enchanting revolutions as their Gear Machine forms a fiery spirograph pattern in the sky. Join Blackpool, the creator Ed Samkin and his fun and infectious soundtrack, in this journey of discovery…

Where: Temple Street Car Park

When: 5.10 – 5.25, 6.05 – 6.20, 7.05 – 7.20

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Who: Gladys, ‘The Fire Breathing Goddess’

Meet Gladys, a unique installation in the shape of one of the most extraordinary and fascinating fire engines you’ll ever come across… Join the fiery green goddess with four of her performers as she propels jets of fire into the sky at the entrance to Tower Street. She will also lead the way to the Heat the Streets finale at the end of the evening!

Where: Tower Street

When:
Tower Street: 5 – 5.10, 5.45 – 5.55, 6.35 – 6.45,
New Bonny Street: 7.50 – 8.05

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Who: Dark Spark, Full Stream

By harnessing the primitive power of Fire to create Steam, Dark Spark brings to Blackpool a specially created performance of extraordinary ambition to stimulate all the senses.

Fire and water combine, creating an explosive mixture of steam, sound, fire and pyrotechnic marvels. Full Steam is a symphony in celebration of Britain’s steam powered industrial past, and its part played in Blackpool’s rise to prominence as the great tourist resort for the workers of the Industrial North.

On the site of Central Station, where once great numbers of holiday makers clambered off steam trains to enjoy their holidays on the sands and the rides of Blackpool’s steam driven fun fairs, Dark Spark will recreate some of the raw sounds, sights and smells of that mechanical era.

Immerse yourself in a feast of sensory delights, with smoke filled air, the smell of wood and coal burning and workers stoking the fires of the ghostly, silhouetted relics of the steam age, the steam boilers, which power the performance. Come and experience the unforgettable Orchestrated Steam Whistles, the Fire Horns, Pyrotechnic Whistles, Flying Rockets, Soulful Sirens, Pyrophones and Balls of Fire, making it a performance to remember.
Mark Anderson and Helen Ingham of Dark Spark combine with international artists Richard Wilson (former Turner prize nominee), Anne Bean, Ansuman Biswas, Kirsten Reynolds and Nick Sales to create this unique performance for Blackpool.
Credits: Created by Dark Spark and Anne Bean, Ansuman Biswas, Kirsten Reynolds, Nick Sales and Richard Wilson.

Where: Central Car Park

When: 8.05 – 8.30