Norfolk and Norwich Festival programme announced

The line up for this year's Norfolk and Norwich Festival will include five world premieres, including a music concert where the audience stay the night in a venue.

Running through May, the festival takes place across the east of England and spans theatre, music, visual arts and literature.

Featured in the line-up is The Arms of Sleep, an experience where 40 audience members a night are invited to sleepover at the Assembly House in Norwich for a ten hour choral piece.

Elsewhere, performance poet Luke Wright will premiere his second verse play Frankie Vah set against the backdrop of indie venues and '80s politics. As part of the outdoor programme, company Thrill Laboratory will set up a virtual reality playground where audiences wear headsets and sit on swings around the city.

Also part of the open air offerings is a piece by TheatreFragile which brings the voices of local refugees into the centre of an immersive performance.

Clarke Peters is to appear at the festival, having directed Camilla Beepu in Stormy: The Life of Lena Horne about the dancer, singer and activist.

As part of the performance arm of the festival, Rear View present IOU, which sends the audience on an adventure around Norwich on a custom built bus which features performances from Ceceilia Knapp and Jemima Foxtrot.

Circus acts include Driftwood from Australian company Casus Circus and theatre company Quarantine bring their show about the human life cycle, Spring. Summer. Autumn. Winter, to Norwich for the festival.

Akram Khan Company's Chotto Desh will also be performed, as well as The Way You Look (at me) Tonight from UK disabled artists Claire Cunningham and Jess Curtis, which explores the way we perceive each other. Public booking for the festival opens from 2 March.

Norfolk and Norwich Festival runs from 12 to 28 May across venues in Norwich and Norfolk.