THE INIMITABLE Devil’s Violin company will bring their latest storytelling and music experience to one of the world’s most famous festivals.

A Love Like Salt is led by Abergavenny master storyteller Daniel Morden, it will be a return visit by the company to the Hay Festival of Literature & Arts which this year celebrates its 25th anniversary.

Slick and spellbinding, few theatrical experiences come close to this superbly crafted show which brings the ancient art of storytelling firmly into the 21st century.

A Love Like Salt unlocks forgotten folk tales that inspired some of English literature’s greatest works - Shakespeare’s King Lear and Chaucer’s Franklin’s Tale and Wife of Bath’s Tale - and The Devil’s Violin takes them on a new voyage of discovery.

Aided by the dramatic, driving rhythms of a skilled and inventive strings and accordion trio, Daniel Morden – one of the UK’s most compelling and applauded storytellers – lures the audience onto a rollercoaster ride in this haunting, hypnotic fusion of music and word.

“How much do you love me?” is a recurring question throughout the show, directed by Sally Cookson. Love is put to the test in three tales as the audience is transported to King Arthur’s Camelot, the Breton shores and the ancient Britain of King Lear.

Suitable for anyone over 12, the audience will meet a knight on a year-long quest to discover what women really want and enter a world where Cinderella meets Cordelia and “Miss Mossy Coat” emerges from “The Land of Ladles” to thrill a prince.

A Love Like Salt is a rich tapestry, peppered with magic and morals, lovers and lust, desire and disguise and even a man hellbent on selling his soul to win a woman.

Sarah Moody (cello), Oliver Wilson-Dickson (violin) and Luke Carver Goss (accordion) bring a wonderful edge to the production. Tickets for the performance at 8pm on the Starlight Stage are available, price just £5.25, on 01497 822 629.