Mel Giedroyc and Mark Thomas lead Latitude Festival theatre line up

Curator of arts, Tania Harrison has today announced the theatre line-up for this year's Latitude Festival, taking place at Henham Park, Suffolk from 14 – 17 July.

Following a theme of 'Love Thy Neighbour', highlights of the festival include Lyric Hammersmith's return for the first time in five years with The Importance of Being Earnest directed by Sean Holmes and starring Mel Giedroyc; comedian Mark Thomas will perform Red Shed, the final part in a trilogy that began with Bravo Figaro and Cuckooed and Australian contemporary circus company Circa present Il Ritorno, an acrobatic show set to Monteverdi's operatic music.

Super Night Shot by Berlin-based arts collective Gob Squad will see the public become co-stars in a movie, and Improbable and Blind Summit will stage Animo, an improvised puppetry performance with no script, a range of household materials and five performers.

Inclusive theatre company Graeae present Paul Sirett’s Reasons to be Cheerful, featuring music by Ian Dury and the Blockheads interwoven with British sign language, captioning and audio description.

Meanwhile, the festival will celebrate Shakespeare 400 with Fight in the Dog's Love's Labour's Lost and Action to the Word's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Over in the Little House there will be productions from Opera North (Parklife), Young Vic & Royal Court (Cuttin’ It), Shon Dale-Jones (The Duke), Liam williams (Travesty) and Sh!t Theatre (Letters to Windsor House).

Nabokov Theatre Company will present Slug, a new show written by Sabrina Mahfouz featuring world champion beatboxer Bellatrix, site specific theatre company Flipping the Bird perform a new feminist piece by Phoebe Éclair-Powell, Fox, and following last year's hit Pramkicker, Old Trunk Theatre return with Fran & Leni celebrating the 40th anniversary of punk.

Acts in the Faraway Forest include Séance by Glen Neath & David Rosenberg staged in a shipping container, and Argentinian artist Fernando Rubio's Everything By My Side will invite audience members into bed with a stranger. Les Enfants Terribles and their The Fantastical Flying Exploratory Laboratory will play Pandora's Playground.

On this year's theme, Harrison said: "The theme for Latitude this year is 'Love Thy Neighbour' and I will be looking to explore what it really means to have an understanding and relate to others; those people next to us, on social media, in the present, across the table, across genders, across streets, across countries, across class and religion, politics and physicality. It's about breaking boundaries for the greater good."

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