Shakespeare's Globe announces Festival of Independence

A new festival celebrating those who have fought for independence across the world is to take place at Shakespeare's Globe.

Playwright Tanika Gupta is curating the festival, which aims to shine a light on personal, political and artistic freedom. The festival features theatre as well as poetry, dance and music.

MOBO Award-winning musician Nitin Sawhney will perform a one-off gig as part of the festival in the Globe Theatre on the 21 August. Between 23 August and 16 September, Gupta's new play Lions and Tigers, based on the story of her great uncle Dinesh Gupta, will be staged in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. The show is inspired by 92 letters written by Dinesh from his prison cell.

Elsewhere in the festival, Akash Khurana is staging a new production of Vijay Tendulkar's play A Friend's Story on 20 and 21 September. The show is set around a college campus in 1940s Poona and is about three students in a love triangle.

On 7 June, there will be an evening of poetry and music called How Many Roads? featuring William Dalrymple, Susheela Rama, Sam Mills and Pirashanna Thevarajah.

Further events in the festival will be announced in due course.