A former Emmerdale and Inbetweener star is among performers taking to the stage in Ipswich across a three day festival.

Emily Head, who has strong links with Suffolk, will appear in the Inventing the Future festival at the New Wolsey Theatre. Produced by leading theatre company HighTide, the festival will run from Friday, October 22 to Sunday, October 24.

Gavin & Stacey star Mathew Horne had also been due to take part, but has had to pull out for personal reasons. His place will be taken by Bradley Taylor, whose TV credits include EastEnders, Honour and Lake Erie.

The event marks HighTide's move to the New Wolsey after 14 years based in Aldeburgh and Halesworth.

It will include readings of six new plays, all drawn from HighTide’s Lighthouse Programme, which supported new and diverse talent during the Covid pandemic.

Emily, who has starred in TV shows including The Inbetweeners, Emmerdale and The Syndicate, spent many summers in Suffolk while growing up. Her late grandmother worked at the theatre when it was The Wolsey.

The cottage her grandmother lived in is still in the family.

Emily was on holiday there when the first lockdown happened, so she ended up living there for months and spent most of the first lockdown working on a Suffolk asparagus farm.

Emily also recently wrote a play, The System, and performed its world premiere at the New Wolsey during August, when the theatre streamed it online.

The actress will be one of the cast reading OCO-2 by Nicole Latchana and Wake Up People by John Webber, which explore issues including the climate crisis and conspiracy theories.

She said: “I'm thrilled to be taking part in HighTide's Inventing The Future festival, and to be returning to The New Wolsey Theatre.

"I recently performed my first piece of written work at the theatre, and I'm delighted to see them continue to champion and support new writing. HighTide have been a great support to many new writers, especially over the past 18 months.

"It's a joy to be a part of showcasing these new writers and their voices, made all the more enjoyable by it taking place in Suffolk - a part of the country that is very close to my heart.”

The other actors taking part are Emily Houghton, Jonny Khan, Milton Lopes, Shala Nyx, Vivien Parry, Sabrina Sandhu, Rakhee Sharma, Emily Stott and David Tarkenter.

Alongside the play readings, there will be free events in the theatre foyer, created through HighTide’s summer community projects, including short films by young people from 4YP and Suffolk Refugee Support in Ipswich and audio pieces created with young people from Lowestoft’s Access Community Trust.

On Sunday, a new theatre piece created by a collective of Ipswich writers charting their experience of lockdown will be staged.

Tickets for the live readings are available from the New Wolsey Theatre, all priced at £5.

For more things to do, visit Head East.