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festivals · Tuesday 1 September 2026 · Various 
UpDown Circus Festival 2026 - Cork City
At Dance Cork Firkin Crane and venues across Cork City · Firkin Crane Centre, John Redmond Street, Shandon, Cork City, Co. Cork
At Dance Cork Firkin Crane and venues across Cork City · Firkin Crane Centre, John Redmond Street, Shandon, Cork City, Co. Cork
Pitch’d Productions bring contemporary circus and street arts back to Cork City for the UpDown Circus Festival, running Tuesday 1 to Tuesday 8 September 2026. The week spans several venues, from the Firkin Crane’s dance studios in Shandon to street performances on Douglas Street and Cornmarket Street, and mixes ticketed headline shows with free community and street programming.
The headline show is RAPT by Benjamin Richter Company, staged at Dance Cork Firkin Crane on Saturday 5 September at 7.30pm, described as an exploration of a “problematic relationship to the word more.” Alongside the ticketed main stage work, the festival runs a full free street programme, including fire acts, juggling and character performances such as Fountain of Joy, Missy Impossible and A Contresens on Douglas Street as part of AutumnFest, plus a Street Feast and Circus night on Cornmarket Street. There are also inclusive community circus workshops at South Parish Hall open to all ages and abilities, film screenings, and a creative art therapy strand alongside an intensive object manipulation workshop led by Benjamin Richter himself.
All venues sit within Cork City centre and its inner suburbs, so the festival is easily reached on foot from Cork Kent Railway Station or Parnell Place Bus Station. The Firkin Crane in Shandon is a short walk up from the city centre near the Butter Museum and St Anne’s Church, while the Douglas Street and Cornmarket Street events sit right in the city core, close to public car parks on the South Mall and Lavitts Quay.
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