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FESTIVAL OF WESSEX 2026 • 50 The Scarlet Pimpernel France is burning, the guillotine is busy, and Marguerite Blakeney is stuck in England with her idiot husband, a man so relentlessly foolish, it’s starting to feel strategic… However, when ruthless revolutionary Chauvelin (head of the French Republic's Committee of Public Safety, but with a very loose grip on the word ‘safety’) threatens her brother’s life, Marguerite is dragged into a world of spies, secrets and very sharp blades. Will she betray the mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel, or let her brother face the guillotine? What do you do when every choice costs you the person you love? Three actors tear through revolutions, opera houses, seedy Dover pubs and glittering ballrooms using nothing but a mountain of wigs and sheer nerve. Expect quick-fire gags and high-octane multi- rolling in this sharply modern, joyously theatrical open-air retelling of Baroness Orczy’s swashbuckling classic. 3 July: Sports Ground, WINTERBORNE STICKLAND, DT11 0NT. 7pm. £16 / £8. 01258 881329. 4 July: Village Hall Field, HALSTOCK, BA22 9SG. 7pm. £16 / £8. 01935 891744 artsreach.co.uk The Haunting of Hill House The chilling new stage adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s “near perfect” (Stephen King) ghost story. From best-selling novel to hit Netflix series, The Haunting of Hill House comes alive in a gripping production blurring suspense and the supernatural. Tense, unsettling and darkly playful, watch shadows whisper, walls remember and grief and desire seep through every wall - leaving one question: is Hill House haunted, or are we? 11 September - 3 October: Salisbury Playhouse, Malthouse Lane, SALISBURY, SP2 7RA. 7.30pm. £46.50 / £12.50. 01722 320333 / wiltshirecreative.co.uk . Becoming Mrs Danvers A dark, electrifying new theatre work that fuses a contemporary interrogation of mental health with the tension of a psychological thriller. Sinister, intimate and relentlessly gripping, the piece draws audiences into a world of locked doors, secret rooms and fractured realities, where money, power and manipulation determine who is heard and who is erased. 18 July: Bridport Arts Centre, 9 South Street, BRIDPORT, DT6 3NR. 7.30pm. 01308 424204 / bridport-arts.com . The Wife The Rude Mechanical Theatre Company present an original musical play inspired by Chaucer’s tale. A hilarious and beautiful poetic romp of word, wit and song. 24 July: Fairfield House, near STOGURSEY, TA5 1PU. 7.30pm. £25 / £11. therudes.co.uk . Rufus Rice: Rice Age A rambunctious evening of comedy and music from TikTok’s favourite lovable rogue. 28 June: Komedia, 22 - 23 Westgate Street, BATH, BA1 1EP. 6.30pm. £19.50. 01225 489070 / komediabath.co.uk.