Get ready for PULSE – Portsmouth Festivities’ fringe fest on Sunday 19th June – an all day FREE fun event that New Theatre Royal is piloting with Aspex Gallery and Eastney Cellars and The Cultural Consortium. This year it is around Southsea providing snapshots of art and entertainment around the delicious Food Festival.

New Theatre Royal are collaborating with Portsmouth High School to present a day of fun for all the family. The school is transforming their gardens and car park into a flurry of activity and the New Theatre Royal will take over the stage on the school lawn.

Between 11am and 3pm NTR will offer you a fabulous mix of the very best of local and professional talent – an Argentinian Cabaret, our own Little Actors Club, Most Wanted Juniors crew, singing from Georgina-Rose Rust, Alonso Mendoza with a drumming workshop and performances from students at Portsmouth High, Highbury College with Robin Hood, and University of Chichester.

There will be the opportunity to take part in Dysarticulate – the Cultural Olympiad Project with local artist, Jon Adams. Create and display your own flag from recycled books and your flag could be part of the bunting that flies on the flagpoles in Guildhall Square on the Open Weekend and the million flags that will created around the world by the 2012 Olympic Games.

Steve Pitt from The Cellars at Eastney will be running a bandstand of local acts in the Palmerston Road area on both the Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 June at 11am-4pm and Aspex have commissioned Hannah Rhodes to create portraits of regulars in pubs around Southsea, in celebration of PULSE. The portraits have been created in a beer mat format, which will be printed and distributed to pubs in the Southsea area and available for people to use as they were always intended, or take away as miniature artworks. An exhibition of Hannah’s beer mats will also be displayed in Debenhams (Palmerston Road) shop window and at The Kings Theatre.

Look out for other PULSE events around the city over the weekend. Don’t miss out, join the Facebook group and keep your finger on the PULSE.

For more information please visit www.newtheatreroyal.com or please contact Charlotte Mackie or Luigi Marinelli on 023 9264 6477