THE stories of older men having their brains washed away by younger women are legend, and Edna O'Brien's new play, Haunted, is a fine example.

The touring production comes to Bath Theatre Royal next week, and stars Brenda Blethyn, Niall Buggy and Beth Cook in this funny and poignant story of a man whose life is turned upside down by the arrival of Hazel on his doorstep.

This bewitching young woman runs a vintage clothes stall, and she goes to Mr Berry's London home to collect some clothing. Keen to prolong his enjoyment of Hazel's company, he accepts free elocution lessons from her, in return for presents of expensive clothes and jewellery which belonged to his late wife.

The only problem is that Mrs Berry is not dead, and as she starts to notice her shrinking wardrobe, her husband's fantasy begins to unravel.

The show opened last year in Manchester, and is on a short tour en route to the West End. The production reunites Brenda Blethyn (for whom Edna O'Brien wrote this stage adaptation) with director Braham Murray and designer Simon Higlett after their acclaimed collaboration in The Glass Menagerie in 2008.

Haunted began life as a 1963 TV play starring Cyril Cusack, whose granddaughter Beth Cooke plays the role of Hazel in this new stage adaptation.

Haunted is on stage at Bath from Monday 15th to Saturday 20th March.

Be heard in Ilminster!

ILMINSTER Arts Centre at the Meeting House will introduce a new participatory event, Processing Words, next Friday 19th March.

It is a chance for poets, writers and storytellers to meet and explore their work, and it starts at 7pm.

"Come and listen to local poets and short story writers or share your outpourings with others in a relaxed and informal setting," say the organisers.

If you would like to read or be read, telephone Helen Walker on 01460 52675.

Dance and laughter

NEW Art Club, aka Tom Roden and Pete Shenton, specialises in getting people on their feet and dancing, but never too seriously.

Next Friday they come to the Brewhouse in Taunton for a night of live art, comedy and dance in This is Now.

With the help of the audience, they will deconstruct and then recreate the very first Now That's What I Call Music album, from 1983.

New Art Club has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, on BBC 2's The Culture Show and toured the UK extensively.

Their shared spirit of adventure and love of nostalgia means performances full of delight, in stand-up comedy style, with wild dance moves and 80s costumes thrown into the mix. It starts at 7.45.

Censorship for adults

THE Faction Collective makes it Bath debut at the Ustinov Studio next week with The Censor, on stage from 18th to 20th March.

Anthony Neilson's play is the explicit and rivetting love story which develops between a female filmmaker and the man who holds the licensing scissors. As he sits in judgement on her latest film, so a relationship which becomes increasingly potent and ultimately tragic grows.

The company decided to produce The Censor as a response to events that transpired recently when the launch of Patrick Jones's book of poetry in Waterstone's was hijacked by Christian Voice protestors. While The Censor does not deal exclusively with the issues of Christianity and religion, it explores the universal and complex subject of censorship.

The play contains adult scenes and excerpts from films rated 18+, and is therefore strictly for adults only.

Undersea observers

ONE of the his shows of the 2009 Edinburgh Festival, Kursk, comes to Bristol Old Vic Studio at the start of a UK tour.

From tonight, Friday, to next Saturday 20th March, local audiences can see this powerfully immersive theatrical experience inspired by the Russian submarine disaster of August 2000.

The Kursk suffered a huge explosion that ripped the bow apart and sent the vessel to the seabed.

Sound&Fury's production takes the audience on the imagined journey of a British submarine sent to spy on the Kursk. The audience is subsumed in the submarine space with the cast, silent observers to the events as they unfold, complicit in our world of secrecy and codes, witnesses to the last minutes of the doomed vessel.

The play puts the audience at the heart of the story using a novel and highly engaging staging that embraces both the epic and intensely personal.

The cast includes Ian Ashpitel, Keir Charles, Tom Espiner, Laurence Mitchell and Jonah Russell.

Firebird in flight

FIREBIRD Theatre's tenth show is a radical re-telling of The Tempest, and the tour comes to Salisbury next week. This exciting version of Shakespeare's play, told from a personal perspective, opened at Bristol Old Vic last week. It was devised in collaboration with John Nicholson of Peepolykus with original music by Sarah Moody, who has composed for The Devil's Violin, Kneehigh and Travelling Light.

The company of 16 disabled actors aged between 21 and 65 has been working on the project for two years, and now Firebird brings its extraordinary brand of storytelling to the Shakespearean text, revealing a human tale about the complexities, joys and tragedies of real life.

The Tempest will be at Salisbury Arts Centre next Thursday 18th March

It also visits the Brewhouse in Taunton on Wednesday 19th May.