Big names, big sounds, big performances come to the Lakeside Theatre at the University of Essex in the forthcoming season.

The line-up includes winners of the Total Theatre wildcard award at last year's Edinburgh Fringe, the Precarious Theatre Company, thrilling dancer Darren Johnston and his company, fresh from a sell-out performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Justin Adams, acclaimed musician in his own right who is also the guitarist for Robert Plant.

The Precarious Theatre Company present Druthers on Tuesday, 6 May. Manager at the Lakeside Theatre, Pasco Q Kevlin caught their performance at Edinburgh last year and was hooked: 'It was an amazing show and was my pick from the Edinburgh Fringe, so it was gratifying when they won an award.'

Later in the month audacious dancer Darren Johnston takes over the theatre with his troupe for three nights. It's a larger than life performance combining exhilarating dance with multi-media production techniques.

Renowned for his choreography, Darren Johnston's latest production, Outre, is a dark and tense trip into a ragged Victorianesque world and is guaranteed to be a highly physically charged experience.

Nominated for the BBC World Music Awards 2008, Justin Adams takes to the Lakeside Theatre stage on Saturday, May 31.

Sometimes referred to as the British Ry Cooder, Justin Adams wows with his interpretation of his love for the music of the Middle East.

The season also includes an impressive jazz collection starting with Asaf Sirkis on Tuesday, April 22, and lunchtime concerts from up and coming jazz artist Dan Sterm on Wednesday, 7 May and from John Law on Friday, 9 May. Jazz group Portico Quartet promise a sublime evening on Saturday, 17 May.

The Angell Trio take over the theatre on Wednesday, 23 April featuring classical music in the first half of the concert and compositions from local students in the second half.

Continuing an action-packed week Tom Dale brings his hypnotic dance production Rise to the Lakeside Theatre on Thursday, 24 April and a flamenco evening stamps into action on Friday, 25 April.

Wivenhoe poet Martin Newell leads a poetry evening on Saturday, 10 May and classical music comes to the lunchtime concert on Tuesday, 13 May with a performance from Dell Anima.