Three east Kent towns will be filled with shows, pop-up theatre and workshops, kicking off a festival this weekend.

The Looping the Loop Festival is back with a varied programme described as Adventures in Performance.

Events will take place around Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate and many are free.

The festival runs until Tuesday, October 25, with 10 shows and nine free workshops, as well as the street theatre team, code-named Melon Twisters, who will be out and about helping stir things up.

The fun started this weekend, with a performance of the much-loved play Shirley Valentine by Willy Russell at Theatre Royal Margate, and continues on Monday October 19, with Kicking and Screaming, a show about the seismic effect of having children, with a live score played on children’s musical instruments, also at Theatre Royal Margate.

Two fun shows for kids, Albee Vector Sound Collector, and Your Toys, round up the festival on Sunday, October 23 and Tuesday October 25, both also at the theatre.

Garsington Opera are involved again, as are pupils from Chatham and Clarendon, St Crispin’s Infants, Hartsdown Academy, St Peter’s Junior, Dane Court and St Nicholas at-Wade Primary who have been working with professionals.

Conrad Murray’s autobiographical show, Denmarked, is infused with raw and punchy R’n’B. While the show is gritty with some difficult themes and won’t be suitable for children, there are separate beat-box workshops for all ages.

E15, by Lung Theatre, shortlisted for the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award, is adapted from real-life testimonies of 29 single mothers from London, who – with the support of celebrity Russell Brand – took their housing grievances to Parliament and won. It will be staged on Friday, October 21 and Saturday, October 22.

Lung and local theatre makers Mischievous Theatre will also run a series of workshops to begin creating a new show for next year’s festival.

For details go to loopingtheloopfestival.org.uk.

Will you be looping the loop?

Aiming to inspire a new generation of theatregoers and theatre-makers, Looping the Loop is a festival of live arts in Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate, which runs twice a year.

Visitors can expect a diverse, high quality programme for all ages, across a range of venues, and in some surprising places! There’s also plenty of invitations for audience participation.