A five-day performance festival will be held in a new state-of-the-art, pop-up amphitheatre within a theatre.

Seating 168 people and completely in the round, the Roundabout Festival in Thanet promises to feature non-stop new theatre coming direct from the Edinburgh Festival 2014 to the Margate Winter Gardens.

The completely self-contained auditorium that flat packs into a single lorry will be in situ between Wednesday, September 3 and Sunday, September 7. On the opening day it will host comedian Paul Sinha, best known from ITV quiz show The Chase as professional quizzer The Sinnerman.

Others may have heard Paul on Radio 4’s The News Quiz or Just a Minute or on Radio 5 Live’s Fighting Talk. He has also appeared on Comedy Central’s Alternative Comedy Experience.

Clearly, Paul is a man of many parts but first and foremost, he is a stand-up comedian. Paul has been nominated for the highest accolade in live comedy at the Edinburgh Festival and won the Chortle Award for Best Club Comic in 2014. He performs at the Roundabout on Wednesday, September 3 at 8pm.

One of the highlights on Thursday, September 4 is a play by Duncan Macmillan about depression and the lengths we will go to for those we love, called Every Brilliant Thing.

A six-year-old’s mum is in hospital. His dad says she’s ‘done something stupid’ and finds it hard to be happy.

He starts to make a list of everything that’s brilliant about the world and worth living for to leave on her pillow. It includes ice cream, Kung Fu movies, burning things, laughing so hard you shoot milk out of your nose, construction cranes and him himself.

As the play develops, the list takes on a life of its own. The performance of Every Brilliant Thing at 9pm will involve members of the audience.

Another play, The Initiate by Alexandra Wood, is another highlight of the programme, with performances on Friday, September 5 at 6pm and Saturday, September 6 at 8pm.

It tells of a British couple seized by Somali pirates. In east London, a Somali taxi driver decides to rescue them.

Meeting disbelief with determination, he dismisses his wife’s fears and flies out to negotiate their release. Speeding from the banks of the Thames to the now-unfamiliar world of his homeland, he confronts the family he left behind and the bravado of the defiant men he once called brothers.

The stand-out act on the closing day of Sunday, September 7 is luscious cabaret hostess Lili la Scala, who boasts “the voice of Vera Lynne, the body of Jessica Rabbit.”

She will be joined by celebrated comedic and cabaret talents including The Boy With Tape on His Face, Abigail Collins, Jaz Delorean, Beau Rocks and Michael Standen.

The Roundabout Festival is at the Margate Winter Gardens from Wednesday, September 3 until Sunday, September 7. Tickets for most performances cost £12 for one, two tickets cost £10 each, three tickets cost £8 each, four tickets cost £7 each and five or more tickets cost £6 each.

Call 01843 292795 or visit www.theatreroyalmargate.com for full programme and tickets.