Festival to return this weekend for special online winter shows

A popular summer festival which attracted more than 30,000 visitors will return with a special winter edition online this weekend.

The First Light Festival will present a series of specially-commissioned performances as part of their Winter Solstice programme to mark the shortest day of the year.

Genevieve Christie, one of the festival's directors, said: "We are very excited to be able to offer this collection of online performances to mark the end of what has been a difficult year.

"The winter solstice heralds the restarting cycle of the seasons, reminding us that winter is not forever and life continues.

"Although it marks the shortest day, the solstice is also a time for renewal.

"We very much hope that all our performances will send an optimistic message to the Lowestoft community and beyond as we look towards the turn of the year and a brighter future."

The series of performances will include a dusk dance, a live sunrise and a bespoke designed 18ft metal art installation lighting up the winter sky.

Lowestoft folk hero John Ward has composed The Light Returns to celebrate the festival's themes of day and night, the sea and the elements, and the history and future of the town.

Lowestoft's Rogue Shanty Buoys will also perform a version of the song along with community singers from the Pakefield Singers.

Choreographer Rosemary Lee's Dusk Dance has been inspired by folk traditions of men dancing together on the winter solstice and will take place against the falling night sky over the North Sea.

The trio of East Anglian young male dancers, aged 11-25, first met as soloists in her Circadian performance at the 2019 festival.

Theatre company Wonderful Beast will present How Night Came from the Sea, before the solstice sunrise will be streamed live from 7.40am on the shortest day - December 21.

With the summer festival was postponed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic this year, the spectacle is set to return to Lowestoft's beaches in 2021.

The video can be viewed on the festival's Facebook page, First Light Festival, from Sunday, December 20.