With just days to go until the greatest cultural event of the summer calendar gets under way and with so much scheduled for Thursday afternoon and evening its time to leave work early, pitch your tent in the perfect spot and begin the festivities. Throughout the site there will be incredible theatre performances, poetry readings, film screenings, live music and stunning visual displays on the lake. Ease your way into the weekend and catch the following on Thursday at Latitude:

Within the fabulous auditorium of the Theatre Arena witness fearless new writing displayed in beautiful bite-sized chunks courtesy of Theatre503. Inspired by the music acts playing over the weekend the company present PLAYlist - nine new plays by the very best new writing talent each lasting no longer than the piece of music that inspired it. See if you can guess the music and artists behind the plays. 

Former Poet Laureate and local boy Andrew Motion makes his playwriting debut with theatre company HighTide presenting the controversial and poignant play ‘Incoming’ – a play about the war in Afghanistan. 

More new writing is on display when Forward Theatre Project present ‘On The Harmful Effects of Tobacco/Can Cause Death’ - their companion piece to Anton Chekhov’s one-man short tragic comedy adapted by Alison Carr. 

Local theatre company nabokov bring their latest work ‘Fairy Tales’ to Latitude in what will be another stellar production from this cutting edge company.

The Bush will add some eeriness to the festival with a haunting story by Anthony Weigh; ‘The Flooded Grave’ - a spine-chilling graveside tale about faith, madness and murder which will be performed as darkness falls on Thursday night. 

The evening will also see the Lyric Hammersmith performing a show exclusively for Latitude. Experience Jekyll and Hyde with a difference as the irrepressible Spymonkey and Peepolykus join director Sean Holmes and writer Joel Horwood to bring you a theatrical extravaganza like no other.   

On The Waterfront Stage Lavish Designs ‘Le Beau Reve’. Cie des Quidams (Inko’Nito) present characters from ‘Herbert’s Dream’ as part of Lavish Designs ‘Le Beau Reve’. Directed by Jean-Baptiste Duperray, ‘Herbert’s Dream’ has been performed over 400 times worldwide since its creation in 1997. Didier Boyat and Alexandra Santander composed the music for ‘Herbert’s Dream’. Combining a lyrical style with popular tradition, the soundtrack draws us into a universe that is both soft and violent, acoustic and industrial, ranging from the simple song to wild improvisations.

The Dream Engine will also present the ‘Heliosphere’ as part of Lavish Designs ‘Le Beau Reve’ performance. The Dream Engine has performed in over 50 countries since their inauguration in 1995. They specialise in unique and unusual performance installations and spectacular aerial events and combine ingenious mechanisms to create the illusion of flying, levitation and wonder. Their performances cross many boundaries from pre-match entertainment in some of the worlds’ largest stadiums to public city festivals, rock shows and bespoke private performances in extraordinary locations. The performance will also include Shaka and Eugene on Thursday evening. 

Over in the Film & Music Arena come and see an exciting exclusive preview of a film before it hits the cinema in August. ‘Powder’, starring Liam Boyle, Alfie Allen & Ralf Little, is based on best selling novel by Kevin Sampson and captures all the energy and excitement of a band about to hit the big time. 

Headlining the opening night in the Film & Music Arena is Future Cinema, the creators of Secret Cinema, who will be presenting a unique collaboration of film and music featuring Brit and Mercury Award nominees Guillemots. The company, famed for taking its audiences on immersive cinematic experiences, will present Park Chan Wook’s cult classic ‘Oldboy’ on the opening night of the festival. Ahead of the feature presentation, sister short film label Future Shorts will present a series of specially selected shorts including Sam-Taylor Wood’s music video for REM’s Uberlin, the surreal ‘Bonefeather’, and ‘The Lost Thing’, narrated by Tim Minchin.

Artist Martin Creed will present one of his films, 'Thinking Not Thinking' in the Film & Music Arena. ‘What would Jesus Buy?’ ...Reverend Billy is on a one man mission- to find out exactly What Would Jesus Buy. Really, he's out to expose the hypocrisies and material excesses of the holiday season. This docu-comedy, produced by Morgan Spurlock and directed by Rob Van Alkemade, is sure to upset, entertain, and humour all those who dare to watch it.

A short stroll over to Pandora’s Playground and you will find a theatrical experience like no other. The “uniquely designed outdoor spectacle” of Electric Hotel will provide audience with a wonderful journey into the lives of its occupants. Voyeurism at its best!

For a soothing start to the festival find a comfy spot in the Literary Arena and let some of the nation’s best authors read excerpts from their latest novels. Hosted by Joe Lycett, he will preside over the evening’s entertainment featuring: highly acclaimed novelist Andrew Miller and his latest novel ‘Pure’, which will be hot off the press when he reads from it at Latitude; graphic novelist Bryan Talbot will be reading from his visually beautiful Grandville and the Anthropomorphic Tradition’; one-to-watch new novelist Deborah Kay Davies who brings her sexually charged book ‘True Things About Me’; and before he performs in the Poetry Arena later on in the weekend, John Burnside comes to the Literary Arena to read from his new novel ‘A Summer Of Drowning’.

The evening will see one of the most thrilling events in literary history when Literary Death Match team up with Fiction Uncovered to put on a night that will bring together four authors battling it out in front a panel of three all-star judges to win the Literary Death Match Latitude crown.

WordTheatre tackles ‘Forbidden Fruit: Erotica’ where contemporary short fiction is brought to life by an international cast; and acclaimed novelist Kim Newman will be reading from ‘Anno Dracula’, an alternate history of Victorian London peppered with recognisable characters from history and fiction.

The Literary Salon will be a place of unlikely hidden encounters courtesy of Forest Fringe. Each night the space will be re-imagined by a different Forest Fringe artist, and for Thursday, Bristol-based company Tinned Fingers will beguile you with ‘The Last Romance Club (Ever)’

Whilst at the Literary Salon join Flabbergast who bring you ‘The Puppet Poker Pit’, a seedy poker den dominated and hosted by your favourite eastern European puppet duo Boris and Sergey, simply the greatest vaudevillian double act ever conceived for the small stage! 

A wonderful bill of poets, slam poets and raconteurs can be found in the Poetry Arena including John Osbourne, Rachel Pantechnicon, Mark Grist, Rob Auton, Harry Baker, Simon Mole, Alex Gwyther, Jack Dean, Soldier A & Intensi-T, Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer and a very exciting Aisle 16 special. Your host for the evening is the brilliant Tim Clare. 

If all of this isn’t enough then make sure you find time to seek out the hidden wonders of The Faraway Forest - home to Latitude’s Saturday night Winters Ball. Thursday night will be the first chance to marvel at the exceptional pieces of art, sculpture, installations and illuminations that will decorate this area of the site and give a stunning visual display. Featuring current students and graduates from the prestigious Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design who together form the Winter’s Ball Art Collective – witness inspiring work from: Florence Mein and Kate Auster who present ‘Paper Sculptures’; Eve Gardiner and Yohanna Alem who has transformed part of The Faraway Forest into a knitted Narnia; and Georgia Clemson’s beautiful light sculptures ‘Cocoons’ hanging high in the trees.

Tickets Here