BURNHAM-ON-SEA’S Princess Theatre will be one of four venues hosting some exciting performances and workshops this summer as part of the Somerset Fringe Festival.

Somerset Fringe is a local festival showcasing emerging and existing talent in the heart of the South West, and will run through August and September.

The festival, originally called Weston Fringe, is now in its sixth year and has steadily grown into a renowned event, showcasing talent from all over the world.

Sam Nicol, Princess Theatre manager, said: “The Somerset Fringe was a huge success for our venue, not only were the artists and staff a joy to work with, it brought in a new audience and financially benefited the theatre beyond our estimations.

“We cannot wait to be involved in 2016, we couldn’t encourage other venues more!”

The festival is presented by Re:ACT, a theatre school with branches in Weston-super-Mare, Clevedon and Portishead, who are also currently looking at setting up a new branch in Burnham-On-Sea.

The festival curates the work of local artists as well as seasoned professionals, and the festival programme celebrates the established as well as the undiscovered.

Christina Bianco, an American actress, singer and impressionist, is headlining the festival, and she has 22 million Youtube views, and 50,000 followers on Facebook.

There will also be a performance from West End Leading lady Ria Jones, dark comedy from Matt Fox, a musical theatre masterclass and lots more.

Princess Theatre is joined by The McMillan Theatre in Bridgwater, Clevedon Pier, and Somerset Hall in Bristol as the venues for the festival.

Originally the Weston Fringe, starting in the Gallery at Digital Photo Studio in August 2011, the first Festival was arranged over a 5-week period and included 15 shows across 5 days all held in the Gallery, overseen by the Weston Gallery Team.

The 2012 Fringe was held at the request of the community and it expanded from 1 venue to 10 and from 15 events to 63, lasting for 10 days.

It was so successful that the organisers were asked to join the World Fringe organisation. 

In October 2014, Re:ACT took over the reigns and renamed the event, the Somerset Fringe Festival.

2016 is set to be the biggest year yet.