SALISBURY Fringe Festival of New Writing is celebrating its fifth year.

From Friday, October 6 to Sunday, October 8, the Fringe brings free theatre to the city once again.

Fringe director Andrew Thackeray and his team have pulled together a weekend of events. There will be a chance for audiences to watch original work at First Cuts, featuring the premiere of a new play by Pete Talman (Friday 7.30pm), as well as Rough Cuts, bite-size plays to suit all tastes on Sunday (3.30pm-5pm) and the festival’s showpiece, Short Cuts (Saturday 6pm-7.30pm and 8pm- 9.30pm). All these performances are at the Pheasant Inn.

See actors go head-to-head in a monologue battle in the Monologue Mash at the Pheasant Inn on Sunday, 5.30pm-6.30pm.

A first for this year’s event is an appearance by BIBIAS theatre company. Six talented adults with learning disabilities present original work, Can You See Me? at Salisbury Arts Centre (Saturday 4.30pm-5pm).

For children in school years 4-7, there is a free creative writing workshop at Salisbury Arts Centre 10am-noon.

Learn the secret of comedy and how to write jokes in a workshop led by Daniel Page (BBC Breaking the News, Newsjack, Damn the Torpedoes! and NewsRevue) at Boston Tea Party, 3pm-4pm & 4.30pm-5pm.

And there is a poetry open mic at the Five Bells pub, 2pm-3pm on Sunday where Salisbury-based Poetika presents a selection of spoken word pieces.

The Fringe committee says it is grateful for the support of the Really Useful Group (Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation).

For more information go to salisburyfringe.co.uk.