Ever since Guy Fawkes was discovered by the guards of King James I on that cold November night in 1605, the Somerset town of Bridgwater has celebrated his failure and The Gunpowder Plot in its own unique way. These celebrations have grown into a massive, spectacular carnival - regarded as the largest illuminated parade in the world.
Over 60 carnival carts, some as big as 100ft long, 16ft high and 11 ft wide, and lit by thousands of lights, wind their way through the centre of this historic Somerset town, creating an explosive atmosphere of light, sound and movement. Accompanying these carts are groups and individual masqueraders on foot, marching bands and majorettes, bringing their own flavour to the festivities.
The entire procession takes over two hours to pass any one viewing point on the 2.5 mile route and the carnival is brought to a dramatic finale with an amazing firework display (locally known as the squibbing) in the middle of the town.
The efforts of the organisers of the Carnival have sought, through the support of the Arts Council to integrate within a national framework of Carnival groups and organisations. For many, the Caribbean form has developed at some pace, whilst the Bridgwater Carnival has remained a uniquely styled original.
Whilst Shademakers relation to our Bridgwater colleagues has been through conference, Arts Council and general interest through research, our first appearance at the event was as part of our Olympic 2012 inclusion in the Great British Carnival project, which was formed during the pre visit to Rio de Janiero with our artistic crew.
It resulted in a further two years of invitation to Shademakers to participate in the Bridgwater event. In addition, members of Ryde Carnival Committee joined us to form association as two of the oldest Carnival locations in the country.
The culmination of our relation was the appearance of the ‘Shady Lady’ ship stage in the High St and included a parade of the Angel/Comets and a reciprocal invitation for a representation of ‘Squibbers’ to perform alongside a Shademakers curated show at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to mark the conclusion of the 4 year Cultural Festival.
It is with some irony that the show represented the last ever performance of Squibbers outside Bridgwater. The reasons, we understood, concerned the transference of a culturally specific ritual having no relevance beyond its place of origin. We were nevertheless honoured to have been part of a historic moment and in company with performers dedicated to the best examples of their Art.
