The annual London Mime Festival gets underway this month with 14 companies from Europe, Canada and the UK performing cutting edge visual theatre alongside screenings and workshops.

Jacksons Lane in Highgate, Shoreditch Town Hall, The Barbican, Wilton's Music Hall, and Islington's Little Angel Theatre are among the venues hosting performances from January 16 until February 5.Ham & High: Theatre Re's The Nature of Forgetting runs at Shoreditch Town HallTheatre Re's The Nature of Forgetting runs at Shoreditch Town Hall (Image: National Taichung Theatre)

UK company Theatre Re returns with the acclaimed The Nature of Forgetting at Shoreditch Town Hall (January 18-22). Developed with neuroscience professor Kate Jefferey and the Alzheimer's Society, this poignant, uplifting show follows Tom, living with young onset dementia, as he prepares for his 55th birthday party while past memories come flooding back.Ham & High: Tits and Teeth runs at Shoreditch Town Hall as part of the London International Mime Festival Tits and Teeth runs at Shoreditch Town Hall as part of the London International Mime Festival (Image: Rosie Powell)

Also at Shoreditch, (Jan 25-28) Thick and Tight's Tits and Teeth combines dance, drag, mime and lip syncing to conjure figures from Miss Havisham and Queen Victoria, to Marlene Dietrich, Rasputin and, of course, John Cage and Elaine Paige.Ham & High: Told By An Idiot's Charlie and Stan at Wilton's Music HallTold By An Idiot's Charlie and Stan at Wilton's Music Hall (Image: Courtesy London International Mime Festival)

At Wilton's Told By An Idiot performs riotous comedy Charlie and Stan, (Jan 18-Feb 4) which recounts the 1910 transatlantic voyage in which an unknown Charlie Chaplin shared a cabin with Stan Laurel as part of Fred Karno's Music Hall troupe. Featuring live piano score and silent film era titles, it's a homage to two men who would change the world of comedy.

Ham & High: Andrea Salustri's Materia Andrea Salustri's Materia (Image: Milan Szypura)At Jacksons Lane, Andrea Salustri presents the premiere of Materia (Jan 19-22) in which the master judggler, as almost unseen animator, explores the myriad possibilities of polystyrene - creating magic and object manipulation before our eyes.

Ham & High: David Glass Ensemble The BridesDavid Glass Ensemble The Brides (Image: Giacomo Gabrielli)Also at the Highgate venue, David Glass Ensemble and Topi Dalmata present The Brides. (Jan 24-29) Exploring female power and misbehaviour, it sees seven women in bridal gowns awake in the 'palace of survival' and pass through the four seasons of a woman's life as they await a groom who never comes. The show draws on varied influences from the Marx Brothers and Mamma Mia, to Lorca and Frida Kahlo.

Ham & High: Famous Puppet Death Scenes by Old Trout Puppet Workshop Famous Puppet Death Scenes by Old Trout Puppet Workshop (Image: Jason Stang Photography)At the Barbican Old Trout Puppet Workshop re-enacts Famous Puppet Death Scenes (Jan 24-28) a procession of short, visually stunning melodramas dismemberings, suicides and beheadings that always end badly for the puppet.

At the same venue, Still Life's comic Flesh (Jan 25-28) is a dark burlesque that runs through awkward, embarrassing and bizarre scenarios generating appalled but helpless laughter.Ham & High: String Theatre's A Water JourneyString Theatre's A Water Journey (Image: Courtesy of London International Mime Festival)

And at Little Angel Theatre in Islington, String Theatre presents A Water Journey (Feb 3-5) a desperate quest for survival when a community of adventurous animals and a wise old man who live in harmony with nature are overwhelmed by a flood. Told wordlessly with rare percussive instruments, long-string wood-carved marionettes and silhouette animation, it's suitable for ages 5 and up.

The London International Mime Festival runs January 16 until February 5.https://mimelondon.com/