JABBERWOCKY Market returns to Darlington from October 2-5, offering fun activities for all ages.

Local dancer and choreographer Debbie Waistell opens the festival with a new show for children and families, Solas Fae, a story of love, loss and Christmas inspired by legends. It takes place at the Cattle Market.

Other highlights include the Ballad of the Burning Star (October 4, Liddiard Theatre Polam School). This semiautobiographical production tells the story of an Israeli man brought up in a Jewish settlement on occupied Palestinian territories.

Told with biting wit and passion, the cabaret performance featuring drag, original songs and storytelling was heralded as a debut success and has since won universal acclaim.

Darlington-born actor and playwright Gary Kitching brings his Edinburgh Fringe Festival show Dead to Me (October 4, Voodoo Café), a dark, yet funny tale of a man’s visit to a psychic.

He quickly discovers sometimes the dead are easier to deal with.

For children aged four and over there’s an adaptation of Oliver Jeffers’ award-winning book, The Incredible Book-Eating Boy, performed for just two people at a time; and for families and children aged eight and over, Fish/Girl is a new adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid.

Folk in a Box (October 4, Market Place) sees audience members enter one at a time through a small door to experience one folk song, from one musician. This novel entertainment has travelled the world and will feature local folk musicians.