There's never been a more important time for grass-roots theatre, and this year's Wells Theatre Festival is a great way to get in on the action!

This year, the festival will present a varied theatre programme, including Children's Theatre, Opera and Dance over the weekend of 6-9 July.

As ever at the heart of this festival, featuring some of the best touring professional theatre, is the Wells Community Theatre production of William Shakespeare's comedy – As You Like It. The community show is cast entirely from Wells and surrounding villages and is always a sell-out. 

• This year As you Like will be staged on the South Lawn of The Bishop's Palace Gardens.
• Ros Johnson, Artistic Director of The Wells Theatre Festival said: "We are very excited about this year's festival. Last week we held an event with Gary Andrews (@garyscribbler) - Dr Theatre to discuss the importance of community theatre. It was a fascinating discussion, and we know there is a strong appetite for theatre of all kinds in Wells and the surrounding communities. We are thrilled to present such a diverse range of shows. There is something for everyone at the Wells Theatre Festival."
• Among the highlights of this year's festival are:
•  AKA Dance Theatre bring A Real Fiction - a hyperactive mix of dance, theatre, meme and pop culture for people of all ages.
•  Moondog Productions are bringing And Then They Came for Me - a thought provoking drama about Auschwitz survivor and friend to Anne Frank, Eva Schloss. Part oral history, part dramatic action, part remembrance, this play brings to life what happened after "The Diary of Anne Frank" ends. Eva Schloss who is now 94, hopes to attend each performance.
• Scratchworks Theatre Company return to the Festival with The Grimm Sisters - a marvellous mix of storytelling, comedy & live music. 'Joyous, interactive outdoor theatre'.
• Jonathan Guy Lewis returns to the festival with his hit one man show I Found My Horn - a man wakes up in midlife to a broken marriage and the dawning fear that he has done nothing to make himself memorable. Packing away his life as he prepares for divorce, he is struck by an insane idea: why not pick up the French horn he never conquered in his youth? First seen in 2008 at the Aldeburgh Festival, and subsequently in the West End, New York, and Los Angeles, "this joyous, feelgood show places the transforming power of music centre-stage".
•  Opera in a Box presents Don Giovanni, Mozart's Machiavellian opera. The eponymous hero has a price on his head. His lustful path of heartbreak and estrangement continues as he faces his greatest challenge of seducing Donna Anna, daughter of the Commendatore, fleeing Donna Elvira, a previous conquest seeking retribution, and breaking up a wedding party. All within the space of a day.
•  Another company returning to the festival are the Pirates of the Carabina with their family favourite, Pirate Taxi. This outdoor aerial circus show, from the award-winning makers of Flown and Home, takes place in, on and around an old-school London Taxi.
•  A treat for children comes from Theatrix Arts with The Sand Dragon - while on holiday Edie and her Daddy find a magical pebble on the beach that can grant you one wish. Can you guess what Edie wished for? Well why not find out by watching this magical story with songs and music, loads of puppets, changing scenery, and a magic trick or two. Then meet the puppets and create your very own Sand Dragon Puppet.

Tickets are available at www.wellstheatrefestival.org.uk