ALSO Festival Returns with an Edition Built Around Luck and Fate
The 13th edition at Park Farm, Compton Verney, spins music, ideas, comedy, and wellbeing through the theme of Oh Fortuna.
ALSO sits in a curious place in the summer festival landscape. Not quite a salon, not quite a festival, it’s a three-day gathering where talks, performances, and immersive experiences coexist, combining ideas and conversation with music, comedy, art, and movement.
This year, the programme takes its cue from Oh Fortuna — fate, luck, and chance. Across Park Farm, Compton Verney, guests will encounter literature, science, and psychology alongside live music, performance, and participatory experiences. Emma Jane Unsworth and Oliver Bullough feature in literary talks; Claudia Hammond and Anne-Laure Le Cunff explore mind and behaviour; Daniel M. Davis tackles immunology. Mark P. Witton brings dinosaurs into focus, Fred Mills examines mega construction projects, and Sunday Times bestselling authors Ken and Mary Okorafor interrogate wealth and social structures.
Comedy threads through the weekend. Mark Thomas returns with political satire. Elf Lyons brings her blend of comedy and economics in Elfonomics. Robin Ince riffs on science and society on the Woods Stage, Marcel Lucont presents cabaret and a reflection on Brexit. Luke Wright brings lyrical wit and theatrical storytelling in Later Life Letter.
Music swings between the adventurous and the immediate. Sheep, Dog & Wolf (Daniel McBride) play avant-pop; Tribo bring high-energy Brazilian samba; Jackson Roy blurs experimental and folk textures. ALSO’s Future Music programme returns, spotlighting emerging talent. DJs keep the lakeside Rum Bar and Bunker 54 moving through the night, with Hoolla Music’s Ecstatic Dance closing the weekend.
Experiences stretch from lake to forest. Paddleboarding, bat walks, wild swimming at dawn, guided writing workshops, and movement sessions from Stornoway’s Oli Steadman sit alongside Fortuna-inspired art installations. Wellness is threaded throughout: meditation, breathwork, ice baths, and yoga — pace yourself, slow or lively.
Food and drink are central, too. Aram by Imad brings a pop-up deli and Sunday long-table lunch; River Cottage hosts woodland feasts; Georgia Hearn and James Whetlor lead interactive cooking and tasting sessions. Daily pastry arrivals, Venetian cocktail tastings, and Bingo Brunch add playful eclecticism.
Family-friendly offerings abound. Playbox Theatre, Patches Circus School, Tiny Dancers Family Rave, and Les Enfants Terribles deliver workshops and performances. ARTLAB and sensory play cater to the very youngest. Discovery and entertainment spill across generations.
Across three days and 50 acres, ALSO26 blends ideas, music, performance, food, and play in a way that feels unscripted. Conversations meander along forest paths, by lake edges, or through art installations.
Tickets and more information are at also-festival.com.
Elena Leo is the Arts & Lifestyle Editor of Ikon London Magazine.
