May 25th - 29th
Sponsored By

& Hadrian's Wall Heritage
& West Lakes Renaissance

The Festival returns with more mirth, mayhem and merriment.
Performers from all around the world descend on the Castle gardens to thrill and entertain the crowds each day. Other attractions include archery, laser clay pigeon shooting and an 84' Pirate Ship........

The entertainment begins with Cabaret @ The Castle Friday May 24th

Daily Acts
Sunday 25th May
Martin Soan
"Tommy Cooper on acid....."

A master of Prop Comedy ...A total lack of any sense, rhyme, or reason to the extent that the insignificance of this show completely escaped me... The funniest thing I have ever seen! — Clive James ...Martin is a gag artist, but not your run of the mill stand up comedian. He amuses and amazes with extraordinary use of everyday objects including U-bends, head gaskets and electronic drills. A young Time Out award winner and now middle-aged Perrier Award winner nominee.

Monday 26th May
Mike Chapman - Circus Fudge

Only two good things have come out of Rochdale.....and he’s better than Lisa Stansfield.  Washing machines that play music, disco dancing with sink plungers, and the legendary Ironing Board of Death all feature in this one man kaleidoscope of circus, music and comedy.

Tuesday 27th May
Robert Blake
The Cowboy Magic Show

Performed by the only Cowboy from the wild west ... of The Netherlands, Robert Blake. Cowboy Magic includes a lasso workshop - the audience gets a chance to throw a lariat or lasso and “Happy” Robert’s horse will also be there to do the HAPPY FIRE & LASSO FINALE STUNT. All done blindfolded (the horse or Robert? Come and see for yourself)

Wednesday 28th May
Los Bonobos

What do you get if you cross a German bird with a French bard? Cabbage frog soup? Nooo! You will love their groovy tunes but be careful: Los Bonobos will teach you some some very cheeky songs, while showing you new ways of 'peeling the onion'!

Thursday 29th May
International Jester Tournament featuring

Mike Chapman
Robert Blake
Los Bonobos
AJ Hudspith

AJ HUDSPITH Gymnast & Escapologist

Mad Maureen

Mad Maureen, (a.k.a. Jane Deane) has been performing her particular brand of mayhem and madness in circuses, pantomimes, theme-parks and festivals all over the UK for the past 15 years. At 35 years old, she really should know better and think about getting a proper job. Striving for adequacy in all she does she is delighted to be making her debut here at Muncaster Castle’s Fools Tournament and hopes that the audience goes easy on the rotten veg if it all goes hideously wrong!

&
Danny Zapparelli

Danny's amazing performance with fireworks,    magic, circus skills, comedy and audience          participation climaxes with a daring and         spectacular display of fire juggling on a ten foot   unicycle

Compered by last years winner - Paul Garbanzo

Walkabout Acts include
Joel Dickinson ..... an official record breaker
Britain's fastest magician,
performing 30 magic tricks in 2mins 19 seconds in 2007 will be here daily performing Magic, Circus Arts, Pocket Picking, Balloon Modelling ...& More!
Iain McNichol

Carolyn Francis
One of Northern England’s leading Fiddle players, as the “Fiddling Green Jig Machine” she performs as a classic “One Woman Band” , accompanying her own lively fiddle tunes with foot driven percussion, various hooters, honkers and whistles, and the occasional lyric!

& Steve Richardson

as 'Marcus Aufidius Maximus,Senior Centurion of Legio Sextus Victrix Pia Fidelis.(Legion VI,Victorious,loyal and trustworthy).

We would also like to thank the kind support of the following:
Cumbria Life and the North West Evening Mail

Highlights from last years Festival .............

World Record Breaking Day at Muncaster - 22nd May 2007

A number of the silliest world records were smashed at Muncaster Castle on Tuesday 22nd May.

See a video of the event downloaded from YouTube here.

Jonathan the Jester, the official jester of the city of Salisbury, broke a total of 3 world records. He walked 36.6 metres on a 7 foot ladder, beating the old record by more than 16 metres.

Jem Famous from Ambleside, who became Muncaster’s first Fool for more than 350 years in 2005, also set a new record for blindfolded juggling.

Jem created a new record for skipping on a unicycle. He completed a total of 51 skips.

Joel Dickinson from Barrow created a new record by doing 30 magic tricks in 2 minutes 19 seconds.

The jester’s records were scrutinised by Dean Gould from The Book of Alternative Records. After observing the jester’s efforts Dean went on to break 5 of the 92 world records he currently holds. He has been breaking records since he first smashed the beer mat flipping record on BBC television’s Record Breakers in 1984.