Theatre

The season opens at the end of August with a show whose profile has probably never been higher.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat has been thrilling audiences for nearly 40 years, but the recent BBC programme to choose a Joseph for the West End, Any Dream Will Do, has brought the show to a new audience.

Fitting then that the touring production of Joseph, coming to Bath from 27 August to 1 September, stars Any Dream finalist Craig Chalmers in the title role.

Following Joseph in the Main House is one of Britain’s oldest opera troupes, the Carla Rosa Company. The Company returns to Bath with Gilbert and Sullivan's The Yeoman of the Guard, a rousing patriotic Grand Opera and Iolanthe, in which W S Gilbert has a field day at Parliament’s expense.

Oscar Wilde's The Importance of being Earnest comes to Bath in September, starring one of Britain’s most popular actresses, Penelope Keith, as Lady Bracknell.

Penelope Keith stars in Wilde's comedy

And Tom Conti, recently named the most popular actor on the West End stage in the last 25 years (alongside Dame Judi Dench), visits Bath the same month in Romantic Comedy, an affectionate piece about writing and friendship and the trials and tribulations of falling in love with someone completely unavailable.

The National Theatre’s production of Alan Bennett’s The History Boys, winner of 30 major awards, comes to the Main House in October. This comic and thought-provoking drama charts the fortunes of an unruly bunch of bright sixth form boys and stars Desmond Barrit as the delightfully eccentric teacher, Hector.

Tim Supple’s colourful Indian production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream was two years in the making and visits Bath prior to a world tour.

Combining the skills of 23 actors, dancers, martial arts experts and street acrobats from across India and Sri Lanka, the resulting performance is bursting with energy.

Richard Wilson

Acclaimed actor Richard Wilson, best known for his role as put-upon pensioner Victor Meldrew, stars as the battle-weary Chief Whip in Whipping It Up by Steve Thompson in October.

This satirical picture of parliamentary democracy is set in a future Britain with David Cameron as Prime Minister, clinging to a tiny majority of three and the whiff of a leadership challenge in the air.

Next up is another familiar pensioner, Coronation Street's John Savident, who stars in Hobson's Choice as the cantankerous Harold Hobson, facing the wrath of his three irrepressible daughters when he tells them they are not allowed to marry.

Discover a life in two parts at the end of October when The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby comes to Bath in two separate performances.

Nickleby's life comes in two parts

Dickens’ genius for creating eccentric, exuberant characters is brought to life with more than 100 characters in David Edgar’s adaptation, first presented by the RSC in 1980.

And look out for a double-bill of stories from John Mortimer, as Edward Fox stars in Legal Fiction, a set of two plays with The Dock Brief about an incompetent barrister and Edwin, about a retired High Court Judge.

John Mortimer himself appears at the Theatre Royal for a Sunday Concert earlier in the season in Mortimer's Miscellany in which he reads from favourite works about love, life and the law, accompanied by actresses, Joanna David and Gabrielle Drake.

Bath Light Operatic Group makes its annual visit to the Theatre Royal in November with the cowboy musical, Calamity Jane, and Ian Lavender and Norman Pace head a star-studded cast in the comedy Donkeys' Years.

The Royal Shakespeare Company returns to Bath for the first time since 2003 with The Comedy of Errors which stars real-life brothers, Jason and Simon Merrels alongside acclaimed Scottish actress, Siobhan Redmond.

David Essex

And 1970s heartthrob David Essex comes to town in December in Andrew Lloyd Webber's romantic musical Aspects of Love.

Panto time approaches - oh yes it does!

The year winds up with traditional pantomime Aladdin, starring Clive Mantle and Chris Harris.

And look out for one night only shows and Sunday Concerts starring luminaries such as Rodney Bewes, Humphrey Lyttleton and Stephanie Cole and the special events series which includes a talk about Daphne Du Maurier, a Jane Austen Festival double-bill and the return of Roy Hattersley and his dog, Buster.

There are also plenty of child-friendly shows coming to The Egg including a cosy Jackanory Live session for pre-schoolers, puppet shows and school life breaking free from the playground in Soap by Tim Newton.