Throughout the Summer, contemporary circus performer Dulce Duca spent time with communities in Witham to co-create Witham and I, a comic, poetic and unpredictable show, commissioned in partnership with Witham Town Council. The show was performed at Witham Street Entertainment Festival in September, featuring juggling, a community band, circus skills, local community artists, and a sound installation with Witham voices.

A stranger arrives carrying earth and life, seeking connection across vulnerable cultural differences. Through nervous tea ceremonies and playful rituals, she transforms anxiety into intimacy, turning the simple act of planting a plant into a complex venture. What begins as one person’s attempt to reach across the unknown, blossoms into a community band, where circus becomes a vehicle for joy and strangers dancers in a shared story. In the end, invasion becomes an invitation, and the space erupts into collective celebration — a beautiful day is born from the courage to plant something new in foreign ground.

Find out more about the Witham Street Entertainment Festival at www.witham.gov.uk

Witham and I was made possible through a commission from Essex Cultural Diversity Project supported by Arts Council England, in partnership with Witham Town Council.