by Jessica Wilson

The line-up of Latitude Festival 2012 has been launched, due to take place on 12-15 July at Henham Park in Suffolk, UK. With tickets already on sale, the dance and theatre bill highlights look set to take the Festival by storm with a huge variety of acts taking place.

For example, the National Theatre will showcase Alice By Heart, a National Theatre Connections production from the writers behind the hit musical adaptation of Spring Awakening, with documentary-theatre company Look Left Look Right premiering their Latitude commission of four new musicals. Political activist Mark Thomas will preview his new play about his father, Bravo Figura, before taking it on to Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre, emphasising the breadth of works being presented at Latitude, and the talent within these. Theatre Delicatessen are also set to premiere their new production, Henry V, in The Outdoor Theatre where Globe Education at Shakespeare’s Glove – London – will also perform.

Additional highlights include Australian superhuman circus company C!rca, the Lyric Hammersmith with its brand new series of highly experiential site specific theatre pieces, Battersea Arts Centre, Harold in Havana, HighTide (Suffolk’s leading festival theatre company), Pentabus Theatre presenting specially created work The Diggers Band and internationally renowned contemporary dance favourites Sadler’s Wells from London who will return to The Waterfront Stage. The Sadler’s Wells programme includes Candoco Dance Company, a company of disabled and non disabled dancers and Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist and leading figure in British hip hop scene, Jonzi-D.

With Latitude featuring such prestigious performance companies as the National Theatre and Sadler’s Wells, the Latitude tradition for presenting the best in new dance and theatre will continue. Melvin Benn, the Managing Director of Festival Republic and the founder and creator of Latitude Festival commented that the bill for 2012 will see Latitude present many sensational artists yet again, each of which the Festival is thrilled to announce, making the Festival confident that 2012 will be the best Latitude to date and maintain its title as the king of the multi-arts festival.

Eleven dedicated arts stages will offer performances to festival-goers from a spectacular mix of artists across comedy, film, dance, theatre, literature, poetry, cabaret and classical music, as well as the Latitude Contemporary Art Awards and Exhibition. Now in their third year, the Awards offer a platform to five of the contemporary art world’s most exciting artists, giving them a chance to create a piece for an exhibition set in a wooded area of Henham Park. The 2012 shortlist comprises of  modern day Hannah Höch equivalent Linder Sterling; The Guardian Artist of the Week Tom Dale; Jerwood Drawing Prize 2010 shortlister George Young, 2008 MaxMara prize shortlister Lisa Peachey and Kingston University Stanley Picker Fellowship member Andy Holden.  2011 Latitude Contemporary Art Prize winner Andy Harper will also be returning with a new piece.

As the seventh edition of Latitude, the festival is also set to host music legend Bon Iver as the closing performance in the Obelisk Arena in his first major headline slot and only UK festival appearance in 2012. In addition, the BBC London Olympics theme composers, Elbow, will top the bill on Saturday, while Paul Weller will bring Latitude 2012 to a crescendo on Sunday.

Assistant Editor Jessica Wilson is a final year student at Middlesex university in London, studying Dance Performance. She is also a Marketing and Communications Assistant at the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD).

Jessica reviews London shows for the Society of London Theatre’s initiative for 16-25 year olds, TheatreFix, writes features for A Younger Theatre and blogs for Cloud Dance Festival, with additional press responsibilities. She has completed many marketing internships, the most recent at English National Ballet.

Jessica has also previously interned for SOLT, East London Dance and the ISTD dance examination board. Jessica is a National Youth Dance Ambassador for Youth Dance England, focusing on young people’s access to dance. She is extremely passionate about opportunities for young people enabling them to succeed and hopes to continue advocating this in the future through a variety of means.

The opinions expressed here are Jessica’s alone and do not reflect the opinions of RAD.