FROM giant dinosaur birds on stilts and a human cannonball to custard pie Olympics - they will all be Out There.The programme for Yarmouth's second Out There festival, being billed as the region's biggest free festival of street arts, was unveiled yesterday.

FROM giant dinosaur birds on stilts and a human cannonball to custard pie Olympics - they will all be Out There.

The programme for Yarmouth's second Out There festival, being billed as the region's biggest free festival of street arts, was unveiled yesterday.

The organiser, SeaChange Arts, is predicting that more than 50,000 spectators from all parts of the region will attend the event over the weekend of September 19 and 20.

A grant of 590,000 euros from the EU has secured the future of the festival for the next three years and permitted a much expanded programme for this year's event, which will be based in St George's Park but include entertainment all around the town.

The festival will open on the seafront with a 300m tightrope walk from the roof of the Hippodrome Circus to the Atlantis Tower by Frenchman Didier Pasquette, one of the world's leading exponents.

A colourful costumed “musical masquerade”, involving 500 local people as well as professional dance groups and bands, will then parade to the park from three different points in the town.

SeaChange chief executive Joe Mackintosh described as the centrepiece of entertainment in the park the UK premiere of a show by six-man French street theatre company Les 3 Points de Suspension.

He said: “The show, Journey along the Edge of the World, is a Monty Python-esque caper involving great stunts and impressive acrobatics. They are amazing on bouncing stilts and there is a stunning human cannonball act where someone is fired nearly 30ft in the air.”

He said the show, which would be performed on both the Saturday and Sunday, was the perfect emblem for the festival - “weird and wacky but not tacky”.

The zany act of UK performer Abi Collins, “pretending to be a Russian �migr� looking for a husband”, would include dance routines with hula-hoops and pointed traffic cones in place of ballet shoes.

UK company Bureau of Silly Ideas would stage a “custard pie Olympics” on the Sunday, a messy affair which Mr Mackintosh said was sure to be enjoyed by children.

Circo Rum Ba Ba would transport a 50ft inflatable whale to the park, inviting visitors to explore a mariner's museum inside.

French duo Cirque Baroque, led by Christian Taguet, would perform an aerial act with a rig put up in trees.

The dinosaur bird stilt act would be performed by Dutch group Close Act while Britain's Dave Chameleon would compere proceedings and do tricks on a tightrope, making use of park benches and trees to put up the rope.

Other performers among nearly 30 leading street acts would include Tone Float, a musical milk float in which the bottles become a musical instrument, and Titan the 7ft robot which jumps into the audience.

Mr Mackintosh said one of the festival highlights would be a Saturday evening show on the seafront culminating in a massive fireworks display from the Jetty.

M Pasquette and his company would be performing there for a second time on a tightrope rig transformed into a pirate ship and there would be a performance by the Europe-renowned nine-piece Portuguese street band Kumpania Algazarra.