BECAUSE a little culture never hurt, Marion Sauvebois takes a look at the best shows around as theatres unveil their summer season offerings.

SUMMER is a time to bask in the sunshine, enjoy a glass or three of Pimms around a mouth-watering barbecue.

And why not take in a show to round-off an epicurean day? The Greeks would certainly approve.

An adaptation of Alan Bennett's monologues, Talking Heads, will open at the Theatre Royal Bath until August 8. The performance will feature A Cream Cracker Under the Settee starring Stephanie Cole as 75-year-old widow Doris; A Lady of Letters starring Siobhan Redmond as the acerbic Miss Ruddock; and A Chip in the Sugar with Karl Theobald as devoted son Graham Whittaker.

The Main House Summer Season will conclude with Mrs Henderson Presents, a brand new musical based on the hit film. It's 1937 in London and recently-widowed, eccentric Laura Henderson is looking for a way of spending her time and money, when her attention falls on a run-down former cinema in Great Windmill Street. Hiring feisty impresario Vivian Van Damn to look after the newly renovated Windmill Theatre, the improbable duo present a bill of non-stop variety acts. But as war looms something more is required to boost morale and box office. When Mrs Henderson comes up with the idea of The Windmill Girls - glamorous young women posing as nude statues - audiences flock.

Adapted and directed by Terry Johnson, with lyrics by Don Black, it will run from August 15 to September 5.

Prepare to be transported to the luxurious lap of the French Riviera with fun-packed musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels from August 4 to 8 at the New Theatre Oxford. In the adaptation of the timeless Steve Martin comedy, sophisticated conman Lawrence Jameson sees his world crashing down with the arrival of larger-than-life Freddy Benson - a con artist of an entirely different order.

Soon realising the town isn't big enough for both of them, they find themselves going head to head in the con of their lives, pulling out all of the stops in a bid for the affections of millionaire soap heiress Christine Colgate. Little do they know what they've let themselves in for.

The Bristol Hippodrome will welcome the National Theatre's multi award-winning production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time from August 4 to 8.

Simon Stephens's adaptation of Mark Haddon's best-selling novel received seven Olivier Awards in 2013 including Best New Play, Best Director, Best Lighting Design and Best Sound Design. As the play opens 15-year-old Christopher stands beside Mrs Shears's dead dog. It has been speared with a garden fork. It is seven minutes after midnight and the teenager is under suspicion. He records each fact in a book in a bid to solve the mystery of Wellington's gruesome murder.

He has an extraordinary brain, and is exceptional at maths but ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. He has never ventured alone beyond the end of his road, he detests being touched and distrusts strangers. But his detective work, forbidden by his father, takes him on a frightening journey that upturns his world.

The summer programme will come to a close with Annie, the world's favourite family musical starring Craig Revel Horwood as the tyrannical Miss Hannigan from August 31 to September 5.

Set in 1930s New York during the Great Depression, brave young Annie is forced to live a life of misery and torment at Miss Hannigan's orphanage. Determined to find her real parents, her luck changes when she is chosen to spend Christmas at the residence of famous billionaire, Oliver Warbucks. But the spiteful Miss Hannigan has other ideas and hatches a plan to spoil Annie's search.

The Wyvern Theatre's annual Summer Youth Project will return between August 20 and 23 with feel-good musical Hairspray. Set in 1960s Baltimore, the show follows overweight teenager Tracy Turnblad, who dreams of dancing on The Corny Collins Show. When Tracy wins a role on the local TV program and is launched to stardom, she uses her newfound fame to campaign for integration between the black and white dancers; all without denting her do.

For tickets visit swindontheatres.co.uk, www.atgtickets.com/venues/new-theatre-oxford, www.theatreroyal.org.uk and www.atgtickets.com/venues/bristol-hippodrome.