Birmingham Commonwealth Games: Thousands watch festival launch

Thousands of people have watched the launch of a culture festival marking the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The first performance of outdoor show Wonderous Stories took place in the city centre on Thursday.

The show is part of Birmingham 2022 Festival, which celebrates the city's creativity and diversity as it gears up to host the international sporting event this summer.

Spectators saw aerial displays, acrobatics, dance and magic.

Further shows will be performed at 18:30 GMT on Friday and at the weekend.

Raidene Carter, executive producer for the Birmingham 2022 Festival, said: "Wondrous Stories hasn't just brought together the creativity and talent of so many performers from across the region, it heralded the start of an incredibly exciting summer ahead for Birmingham."

Costume design students at Birmingham City University produced 300 outfits for the production.

Louise Chapman, senior lecturer in costume design, said: "The scale of this production is larger than anything we have ever delivered across the costume programme, and I am so proud of what we have achieved."

Student Jack Slater said: "At the start of this project, I was nervous as I'd never done such a big production, but as the module progressed, I've felt more and more honoured and proud to be part of it. This is for Birmingham."

The festival runs until September.

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