Mini-operas, a line-up for children, banging DJ sets… it’s easy to mock the Oxfordshire shindig – but the variety this year was marvellous
There are few festivals in Britain where you can spend an hour watching mini-operas from the Royal Opera House, or learning how to write your own, before strolling across a field to rave to The Chemical Brothers beneath the moonlight – parents clutching mesmerised offspring sparkling in glitter, eardrum-protecting headphones clamped to their tiny heads.
Located on the edge of the Cotswolds, with its daily four-course banquets, hot tubs on the lake, Veuve Clicquot champagne garden and young families arriving in gleaming 4x4s from elite local members’ club Soho Farmhouse, Wilderness is often mocked as Britain’s poshest festival – “Poshstock”‘. And yet, it’s impossible not to be charmed by a get-together that, despite its high-minded programming, truly does offer something for everyone – even a line-up just for children. For the adults, afternoon talks ranged from a provocative debate about ‘the future of non-monogamy’ to a gentle Q&A with The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse author Charlie Mackesy, while the annual Wilderness cricket match enticed the festival’s bravest attendees, many of whom played in outrageous fancy dress or simply in the nude.
In the evening, walking around the site felt like opening a toy box of delights, with fire-breathers, magicians and hair-hanging contortionists in one corner, hip-hop karaoke, a comedy club and Ronnie Scott’s pop-up in another. One extraordinary moment was suddenly seeing the giant, moving head of a stag magically appear in the night sky, which turned out to be one of several glowing animal constellations from thousands of drones operated by Sky Magic.
On Saturday, it’s always fun spotting which celebrities will turn up for Letters Live later that day, an event series in which famous faces read entertaining letters from notable names. This year saw Claire Foy, Emma Corrin, Taron Egerton and Jason Isaacs reading preposterous missives from everyone from Mark Twain to Mozart. The highlight was watching Benedict Cumberbatch barely able to contain himself as he read a series of increasingly withering correspondence from George Bernard Shaw declining various invitations, including a dinner party – “Dinner? How horrible!”