National treasure Jennifer Saunders returns to Bath following her previous appearance as the iconic Madame Arcati in the record-breaking West End production of Blithe Spirit.

Jennifer Saunders is much loved for the sketch show French and Saunders, for which she and Dawn French received a BAFTA Fellowship, and hit comedy series and movie, Absolutely Fabulous.

Jennifer Saunders stars as Mrs Rafi, one of the greatest comic roles in British theatre, in the first major revival of Edward Bond’s intoxicating The Sea for almost two decades, at Theatre Royal Bath from 22 October to 7 November 2026.

It is 1907, the height of the Edwardian era. A wild storm shakes a small East Anglian seaside village to its core. Amidst the confusion, Mr Hatch, the local draper, wrestles with the possibility that aliens from outer space may be ready to invade, and the village’s self-appointed ‘First Lady’ Mrs. Rafi, prepares her ladies for an amateur dramatic performance of Orpheus and Eurydice…

The Sea is a fascinating blend of wild farce, high comedy, biting social satire and bleak poetic tragedy.

Jonathan Munby is a British theatre director whose career spans classical and contemporary work across the UK and internationally, including major productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Donmar Warehouse, Young Vic and Shakespeare’s Globe.

Playwright, poet and theatre theorist Edward Bond’s play The Sea, originally premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in London in May 1973, before being revived at the National Theatre in 1991 and at Theatre Royal Haymarket in 2008 starring Eileen Atkins and David Haig.