When climbing through nature, the sky is the limit at Milton Keynes International Festival 2025

Milton Keynes International Festival (MKIF) features a variety of artists and shows, covering a range reaching from circus performance to kathak. Even a one-day snapshot of the festival is enough to glean a wonderful jumble of work from companies across the globe, inviting companies Klub Girko (Germany), YUCK Circus (Australia), Pagrav Dance Company (UK) and NoFit State (Wales) to perform live. Although the festival is happening across Milton Keynes, the following were based around Campbell Park, supporting a connection with nature for some shows and a freedom in pursuing – literally – great heights in others. 

Image: Klub Girko's Human Time - Tree Time | Photographer: Carys Underwood

Balance in the physical and emotional relationship between humans and nature culminates in a sculpture for Klub Girko’s Human Time – Tree Time. Out in the grey drizzle, the damp sets a quiet atmosphere marred with the smell of earth and bird song. A tree trunk forms a see-saw-like scale, the duo sat on either end. Playing with tipping weight from one end to the other, Klub Girko flexes calm control. Dancers Josef Stiller and Xenia Bannuscherslip then slip off the scale and into the grassy clearing for a playful duet with a competitive edge. Watching these performers defy gravity by balancing increasingly heavy, longer and thicker branches on the palm of a hand, a shoulder or a foot could make you believe in magic. Intense gazes build a silent conversation between human body and branch dancing as one. The conversation concludes harmoniously with branches seemingly floating atop one another in an ephemeral sculpture, stilled by Stiller’s counterbalance on one end. Skilled, contemplative and visually breathtaking, Human Time – Tree Time is a natural query into how much control we really have over our surrounding environment, and what happens when we are willing to listen to it.

Image: YUCK Circus | Photographer: Carys Underwood

If Klub Girko felt taciturn, YUCK Circus is unapologetically outspoken in contrast. Hilarious caricatures of arrogant, muscular men with black (marker) moustaches hollering at each other (and the audience) laugh at the typical, real-life nuisances unfortunately familiar to many women. The pains of modern dating complete with unsolicited pictures and those emojis, ego-boosting acrobatics, and the depiction of women in the male gaze serve a perfectly baked satire. Part of YUCK’s appeal is the relatability mixed with hyperbole. A sad, single woman – such a common stereotype – woes her exes’ disgusting hygiene habits. There’s period blood on a white bathrobe (cue masculine vomiting sounds). Terrible innuendos and pick-up lines. YUCK refuses to shy away from addressing the disgust around women’s emotions and bodies, even less from potentially offending. Here is a work women of every age need to see – especially if they need to laugh about one of those men.

Image: Pagrav Dance Company in Urja Desai Thakore's One Sky | Photographer: Carys Underwood

Adding to a broad mix of pieces at Milton Keynes is Pagrav Dance Company, known for its Kathak flair. One Sky, choreographed by Urja Desai Thakore, is designed for an outdoor stage and transports a taste of Indian kite festivals to Milton Keynes. Its overall impact lies in warm, flowing aesthetics, making for relaxing viewing. Seven dancers in varying shades of orange and yellow set a scene of people gathering in celebration of the kites, represented via kites hanging on a banner, flying above. Palms flit from the centre of the body, outwards and upturned in admiration of the sky. Two male dancers disappear from the stage, then re-appear largely unseen behind two large orange kites. Holding the back of each kite and weaving them about the stage, the rest of the group respond with turns, gestures and fast footwork. A light dance piece for entertainment, One Sky fits snugly into Milton Keynes’ festival scene and is clearly a treat for the little ones, with a confetti cannon adding a riot of colour to the surrounding crowd. Unremarkable for theatre but a perfectly pleasant performance to stumble across at a festival.

Image: NoFit State Circus in BAMBOO  | Photographer: Carys Underwood

Throwing a mass of fun and gasp-inducing chaos into the mix is NoFit State Circus with BAMBOO. The construction of several tall bamboo towers is part of the showmanship that reveals all – no magician’s secrets can be found here, and BAMBOO is all tricks and jaw-dropping stunts. A performer runs up the side of a bamboo tower as the remainder of the group pull it upright, tall and intimidating bamboo poles are half-swung into place, someone glides about the top of the tower, tying it together with rope and catching sandbags thrown up to them for anchoring each join. Yet tower-building is only the introduction. Each mover alternates stunting in the towers or at ground level: balancing in a handstand on someone else’s palms held above their head, positions that surely shouldn’t be possible are toyed with at the greatest heights, bodies hang from hips or roll around rungs. Best of all is the unpredictability BAMBOO thrives off of. “Accident” -teasing moments are purposely thrown in, cleverly disguising anything that might genuinely not be going to plan. BAMBOO mischievously strays away from perfection typically expected in live performance, and it strays with rumbustious charm. 

Combining people, nature and pure skill, the shows at MKIF each have something to offer in their own right. The selection viewed is a small fraction of the entire festival, but promises an eclectic choice of styles and themes that will be cause for both entertainment and cogitation.