# Event Details - **Event Name**: Rude Mechanical Theatre Company - The Wife - **Event Start and End Date**: Fri, 19 Jun, 2026 at 07:30 pm - **Event Description**: https://squareandcompasspub.co.uk/what-s-on/1721 A Rudes’ original musical play based on Chaucer’s classic, bursting with live music and original songs, The Wife is written by Pete Talbot, with original music by Rowan Talbot. By turns hilarious, bawdy, and tender, The Wife is a rich and provocative evening of word, wit, and song - “Highly Entertaining” - (Time Out). The Story Alyson of Bath, cloth-maker, widow, pilgrim, and five-times-married authority on love and marriage, is riding the spring roads from Southwark to Canterbury in lively company. There’s Sir Calidore, courteous and courtly to his fingertips; Robin the miller, loud, brash, and cheerfully unrefined; Friar Hubert, smooth of tongue and slippery of conscience; Madam Eglantine, a nun and prioress, proper as prayer and careful as lace; and Harry Bailey, genial host of the pilgrimage and keeper of good order. To pass the miles, Harry proposes they tell stories, and as it’s spring and the world is bursting into bloom, Alyson, naturally, takes the floor. Before she tells her tale, she is invited to speak of her five husbands: the first three rich old men (how else can a poor girl survive?), then the handsome Guillaume de Lory, charming but unfaithful, who can’t keep pace with the formidable woman she has become, and finally the delicious Jankyn, whose smile was July and whose body was August. That, she decides, is quite enough to be going on with. She has another story to tell. This time it is a tale of courtly love: a young knight named Roland, a terrible crime in a forest, and a punishment narrowly escaped when Queen Guinevere sets him a task, a year and a day to discover what women most desire. With his servant Dogwood, Roland wanders the world in search of an answer no one can agree on. As the story unfolds, the pilgrims listening are quietly tested: Sir Calidore’s courtly ideals begin to wobble, Robin’s bravado is exposed, Friar Hubert’s easy certainties slip, and Harry Bailey finds himself uncomfortably implicated. And Madam Eglantine, a nun and prioress ‘married’ to Christ, feels something stir - the wild rose beneath the habit, “the pink beneath the grey”, beginning to show. Along the road there is laughter, argument, music, chaos, hilarity, poetry and tenderness, but beneath it all, deeper questions surface. The Rudes start their 2026 summer outdoor tour of villages and towns in Southern England on Thursday 11th June and will tour until Sunday 9th August with performances in Sussex, Kent, Surrey, Hampshire, Dorset, Buckinghamshire & Somerset including here at the Squareand Compass. Buy tickets here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/therudes/1989827 New theatre inspired by the Commedia dell’Arte The Rude Mechanical Theatre Company, affectionately known as The Rudes, have been producing high quality professional theatre, in our own unique style, since 1999. We have a hugely loyal fan-base that come to see us year-after-year and we work across Southern England from Devon to Kent. Our shows are aimed at adults but enjoyed by all ages and are performed mainly outdoors, and sometimes, in a circus style 'Little Big Top'. We are best known for our outdoor summer tours and taking theatre into small rural communities. We do get into towns and cities occasionally where there are concentrations of Rudes’ fans but the ambiance of buses, car horns and drunks is slightly less conducive to poetic moods than the country where a worst case scenario is adjacent muck spreading, bell ringing practice or performing in a cow shed! Our casts are composed of experienced, top quality professional theatre actors and actor-musicians who have often trained in mime, clown or commedia. Most members of our team are also musicians, and our original live music is integrated with the action. White faced male clown, playing the trumpet, wearing sunglasses, a bold jacket and looking cool. Our Style Our style of performance is our own, our brand, & a hybrid of the accumulated influences of the actors, artists and musicians we have worked with & what they have brought as individuals. We are heavily influenced by commedia dell’arte, music hall, vaudeville, silent movie, circus & pantomime, but always with a serious intent to stimulate thought as well as to entertain. While we are influenced by the commedia dell’arte, we are not a ‘heritage’ company – neither English nor Italian, but we use tools from that tradition – as and when we see fit – to produce new work. For example, we often use large comic movement and physical jokes called lazzi and burli, much of which is part of a tradition that is hundreds of years old. We use Pedrolino style white faces – pantomime blanche (rather than leather masks) – and bright coloured vibrant ‘cartoon-ised’ costumes. We literally use the slapstick or battoccio, but our work is not ‘merely slapstick’. Poetic solutions to storytelling are never far away and through mime, vocal sound effects and devices of our own we are constantly looking to exploit the poetic, fantastic and absurd. Using magic realism our stories slip easily between the realistic & the fantastical while constantly reminding the audience that ‘it’s just a play’ & we are actors. Communities Although we do include a few towns where there are concentrations of Rudes supporters, as explained above, our main work is in small rural communities where we have over a long time built up strong bonds & a common theatrical language. We have been going to many of the venues for 20 years & many others over ten. We are very close to our audiences therefore; children have grown up with us & now bring their own children. We are deeply embedded in these people’s lives. Our local organisers are among our greatest assets. ‘Community’ for us is a key principle: It combats loneliness (especially in the elderly), provides fundamental cultural opportunities to celebrate the milestones of life & the chance to participate in key rights such as democracy. It forms the backbone of all we believe in & the functioning of our art form. Links: therudes.co.uk youtube.com/@rudemechtheatre facebook.com/rudemechtheatre instagram.com/therudemechanicaltheatre twitter.com/RudeMechTheatre open.spotify.com/artist/56kAxK6ePSoURVK1XTIC5w "Commedia dell'arte – the tradition that gave us Mr Punch and the foundations of pantomime – is a rare discipline, even in Italy. But the Rudes have made it their own" ~ Jenny Gilbert, The Independent "It's a pleasure to see a company so expertly making good 21st century theatre firmly based in an old art form which is such an important strand in the history of our industry" ~ The Stage Magazine "I write from a house buzzing with excitement. Our Ukrainian family – Luda, Nastya and Alisa – were absolutely bowled over by the show last night and have sent texts and pictures to their friends and family who are now scattered across Europe. They say they’ve never seen anything so brilliant and were grilling me for adjectives that would express their enthusiasm – we pooled all our adjectives and still needed more! Of course, I’ve always been immensely proud of theatre-makers in the UK but it’s wonderful to hear an outside view of just how inspiring theatre at its best can be. Please pass on our thanks and admiration to the Company – and of course, our love" ~ Alison Allen-Gray (novelist) "Another success, absolutely brilliant evening well done to the gang. It was so good to go out and enjoy ourselves. Looking forward to the next one. Maybe you can do something with Charlie’s later life, that would be great fun" ~ Pauline Saunders, Dial Post "We enjoyed it enormously and next day we had some visitors who expressed real joy. Indeed an elderly academic friend (who was director of education for Leicestershire – no relation to my cousin), who is very sceptical about all matters, said he found it just wonderful – greatly impressed by the actors and their attention to fine detail, and was deeply emotionally involved. Praise indeed. We have received congratulations from a number of others." ~ Richard Hunt – Halnaker "I came to Worth Matravers with friends last night. The play was absolutely brilliant. You’re all extremely talented. "Fabulous show once again (in Worth Matavers), and amazing weather after all the fire predictions. I took along 9 people who had never seen you before including a former actress/London stage manager, professional singer and a keyboard player – all entranced" ~ Jane Linger - **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/wareham/rude-mechanical-theatre-company-the-wife/200030187887028 - **Event Categories**: art, theatre, music, entertainment, live-music, literary-art, workshops, performances, trips-adventures, storytelling - **Interested Audience**: - total_interested_count: 17 ## Ticket Details ## Event venue details - **city**: Wareham - **state**: EN - **country**: United Kingdom - **location**: Worth Matravers, BH19 3LF Worth Matravers, United Kingdom - **lat**: 50.59869 - **long**: -2.03746 - **full address**: Worth Matravers, BH19 3LF Worth Matravers, United Kingdom, Worth Matravers, Swanage, BH19 3, United Kingdom, Wareham ## Event gallery - **Alt text**: Rude Mechanical Theatre Company - The Wife - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events10/banners/90cf459f5c38307745653ba7b7a2f23c633b00d2ad6a02082e28f454194279d2-rimg-w1000-h600-dc76a9bb-gmir?v=1781330792 ## FAQs - **Q**: When and where is Rude Mechanical Theatre Company - The Wife being held? - **A:** Rude Mechanical Theatre Company - The Wife takes place on Fri, 19 Jun, 2026 at 07:30 pm to Fri, 19 Jun, 2026 at 07:30 pm at Worth Matravers, BH19 3LF Worth Matravers, United Kingdom, Worth Matravers, Swanage, BH19 3, United Kingdom, Wareham. - **Q**: Who is organizing Rude Mechanical Theatre Company - The Wife? - **A:** Rude Mechanical Theatre Company - The Wife is organized by Square and Compass. - **Q**: Who is this event for? Is it right for me? - **A:** Rude Mechanical Theatre Company - The Wife is ideal for music lovers, fans of all genres, and anyone who wants to celebrate the power of music - from intimate gigs and live sessions to festivals and cultural performances. Whether you're a first-time attendee or a longtime enthusiast in Wareham, this event is thoughtfully curated to deliver a standout experience worth every moment. If Rude Mechanical Theatre Company - The Wife sounds like your kind of event, don't wait - spots fill up fast. ## Structured Data (JSON-LD) ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Event", "name": "Rude Mechanical Theatre Company - The Wife", "image": "https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events10/banners/90cf459f5c38307745653ba7b7a2f23c633b00d2ad6a02082e28f454194279d2-rimg-w1000-h600-dc76a9bb-gmir?v=1781330792", "startDate": "2026-06-19", "url": "https://allevents.in/wareham/rude-mechanical-theatre-company-the-wife/200030187887028", "location": { "@type": "Place", "name": "Worth Matravers, BH19 3LF Worth Matravers, United Kingdom", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "Worth Matravers, Swanage, BH19 3, United Kingdom", "addressLocality": "Wareham", "addressRegion": "EN", "addressCountry": "GB" }, "geo": { "@type": "GeoCoordinates", "latitude": "50.59869", "longitude": "-2.03746" } }, "eventAttendanceMode": "https://schema.org/OfflineEventAttendanceMode", "description": "https://squareandcompasspub.co.uk/what-s-on/1721\n\nA Rudes’ original musical play based on Chaucer’s classic, bursting with live music and original songs, The Wife is written by Pete Talbot, with original music by Rowan Talbot. By turns hilarious, bawdy, and tender, The Wife is a rich and provocative", "organizer": [ { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Square and Compass", "url": "https://allevents.in/org/square-and-compass/9259773", "description": "Square and Compass, Worth Matravers. 11,155 likes · 604 talking about this · 6,924 were here. Undoubtedly a true gem in the heart of Dorset...." } ] } ] ```