Turnus Ltd, the joint venture company behind the Saint Anne's Square development in Belfast's Cathedral Quarter has announced an exciting new partnership with one of Belfast's best loved events, the Festival of Fools. This unique alliance will not only enable the Festival to engage a prestigious and internationally renowned Russian street (or outdoor) theatre company as a headline act but will also unveil Saint Anne's Square's 1,400sq ft European style piazza as Belfast's newest public performance space.

Peter Jennings, Turnus Ltd explains, "From the outset we were determined to include an open public space in the overall development of Saint Anne's Square. Given the cultural profile of Cathedral Quarter the introduction of a European style piazza ticked all the boxes in terms of accessibility and flexibility for performance art. We are delighted that the Festival of Fools will be the first arts organisation to use the piazza and we look forward to welcoming both performers and audiences to this fabulous new facility in the heart of Belfast."

Welcoming the partnership Festival Director Will Chamberlain said, "It is rare that a city gains such quality public space as Saint Anne's Square and so we wanted to introduce a really spectacular and powerful performance to make optimum use of the piazza. The street performances from Mr Pejo's Wandering Dolls will be the Irish debut for this acclaimed Russian Company and we believe that the distinctive style of show will perfectly complement the ambiance of Saint Anne's Square."

The investment from Saint Anne's Square has been further supplemented by Arts & Business allowing the creation of a special feature celebrating the exploration of new space. This performance will see comedy astronauts ‘discovering' Saint Anne's Square for the very first time.

Will Chamberlain continues, "We believe that this partnership will launch Saint Anne's Square as a significant outdoor cultural space and further cement Festival of Fools' reputation for bringing new and innovative work to Belfast and pioneering arts in public space."

Festival of Fools runs from Thursday 29^th April to Bank Holiday Monday 3^rd May across Belfast city centre and Cathedral Quarter.  Shows will take place in Saint Anne's Square from 30^th April to 3^rd May 2010.