WATCH: Galatea will be one of the Brighton Festival highlights

Spokeswoman Elin Morgan said: “Galatea was written by Shakespeare's contemporary John Lyly in the 1580s and will now be brought vividly to life in a field in Shoreham on Sea in a radical revival adapted by Emma Frankland and Subira Joy and edited by theatre historian Andy Kesson. The production will be co-directed and designed by Mydd Pharo of Cornish landscape theatre company Wildworks and presented by Marlborough Productions.

“Two Black performers stand in the middle of a big empty room with atmospheric white and blue lighting. They are both looking defiantly at the camera, one of them facing directly towards the camera and the other facing away but looking over their shoulder. The performer facing the camera has a shaved head and is wearing a long dark waistcoat over a dark top that exposes one of their shoulders and a layered skirt with a mixture of dark and metallic materials with some shoes whose soles are lit up one in red and one in blue. They are draped in chains and wear a bejewelled head covering with a gold chain that lies across their face over the bridge of their nose. The other performer has short and spiky red-tipped dark locks and is wearing a red, white and black striped sports jersey and black and white tie-dye trousers. Over their shoulders sits a string of bones and they have some chain-mail draped down their back. Either side of the performers stand vertical strips of bright white mirror lights and fire pits burn on either side. Propped up behind them a red sign reads 'The Monster is Coming' in black and white spray paint.”

Galatea was written in the 1580s and performed in front of Queen Elizabeth I. Now, this tale of love, joy and the importance of welcoming outsiders will be introduced to new audiences as a resonant story for modern times: “Set in a world where gods walk among the mortals, this unapologetically queer story follows different characters - all lost in the woods.

"Two young trans people find love whilst escaping oppression; a shipwrecked migrant searches for his family; goddesses clash; parents fret; an alchemist brews magic and a teenage Cupid sets hearts on fire - causing chaos and near disaster. Galatea is an ambitious collaboration between queer theatre maker Emma Frankland, LGBTQIA+ culture catalysts Marlborough Productions, Wildworks and the brand new research project Diverse Alarums, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

“The revival of Lyly’s Galatea forms part of academic research project Diverse Alarums, which explores the potential for early modern plays in contemporary performance to enable new creative and engagement opportunities for marginalised performers, practitioners, and audiences. The project builds on Emma Frankland and theatre historian Andy Kesson’s collaboration over many years and seeks to discover a more diverse early modern performance canon.”

Galatea: May 5-21, Adur Recreation Ground, Brighton Road, Shoreham, BN43 5LT. Tickets from the Brighton Festival