Claire Evans is a writer, theatre producer, director and season producer of the Sidmouth Summer Play Festival until 2022, and now lives in Sidmouth. Here she previews some of the music, theatre and dance offerings at this year's Sidmouth Folk Festival.

The Sidmouth Folk Festival, running from 4 to 11 August, is celebrated for its cornucopia of music, dance and workshops and, with over 700 events to choose from, it is a challenge to decide how best to pack in the events that are on offer.

The dizzying array of both recognised and emerging talent from across the globe includes big-name concerts taking place on the Ham, the wonderful world of Morris dancing filling the streets with the sound of bells and clashing dance batons and, everywhere else in between, performances and workshops in all things folk: from learning to play musical instruments, calling a ceilidh, to the Sidmouth Horse Trials, an event that brings together hobby horses, unicorns, Morris animals and other beasts of disguise all competing for the prestigious Aardman Trophy.

Every year, Sidmouth's other festival, the Summer Repertory Season, concludes play six with a feverish packing-away of all trace of the actors, sets and costumes as the Manor Pavilion is handed over for a week to the Folk Festival.

Several events will take place at the Manor Pavilion Theatre (Sidmouth Folk Festival)

As someone who has enjoyed a long love-affair with the Manor Pavilion, I am really excited about the events lined up at the theatre, which include the folk opera, The Undoing of Polly Button, The Folk Detectives, the Exmouth Shanty Men and 1918 The Untold Stories of the Great War.

The events on offer at the Manor Pavilion benefit from a more traditional and intimate theatre space. The Undoing of Polly Button is a folk opera by Katherine Fear based on the true events surrounding the murder of Mary Green (aka Polly Button) by John Danks near Abey Green in Nuneaton. Reg Meuross and Cohen Braithwaite Kilcoyne presents his song cycle Stolen From God, unfolding the history of England's involvement in the transatlantic slave trade.

The Folk Detectives, in a rather different vein, comes with a warning from Matthew Crampton and Paul Hutchinson who promise to "uphold the lore – the folklore", taking a look at the history and tradition of folk with colourful irreverence.

Chris Hoban's 1918 The Untold Stories of the Great War invites us to join him and the Sidmouth Town Band on a chronological journey of music, history, anecdote and humour exploring some of the less familiar characters and events of World War One. Harp and A Monkey will be playing their new album The Victorians, Lewis Wood's Footwork will be celebrating English Step Dancing and, bringing the heady week of entertainment at the Manor Pavilion to a vibrant big finish will be The Exmouth Shanty Men, the original buoy band, with their Tall Ships and Tavern Tales concert.

Tickets and all details of the events at the Manor Pavilion can be found here.

When not looking in at the Manor Pavilion, I will be mingling with crowds in the streets and gardens enjoying the many Morris dancing groups from around the UK and from the United States.

Dance has been at the heart of the Festival from when it was first created in 1954 and there will be much to sample during the week, including Irish Set dancing, Scottish country dancing, Early English dance, Euro and Scandi dance.

I cannot wait to be in the Market Square at 7.30pm on the eve of the Festival, where Morris dancers will signal the start of the celebratory week and then at the other end of the Festival to join the torchlit procession on the Esplanade marking the end of what will without doubt have been another Folk Festival triumph.