It's Magic, Victoria Park, Haywards Heath, July 4-6 Award-winning Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins is joined by classical quartet Blake at this year's open air concert.

The event begins on the Friday with retro music stage show That'll Be The Day, while Katherine is the headline act on Saturday night. The Sunday sees a free display of live music and entertainment that is open to everyone. Full line-up TBC.

  • 5pm, £32.50/£27.50, 01444 255115 She Stoops To Conquer, The Scented Garden, St Ann's Well Gardens, Hove, July 16-August 3 Philandering fops, delicious dandys and flirty females share the stage in Oliver Goldsmith's rumbustious Restoration comedy.

Poking fun at the manners and mores of the upper classes, Oliver Goldsmith's 1773 play is a favourite with theatre companies and audiences for its exuberant wit and outlandish characters. The play is presented by Incisor Theatre, who have been staging summer plays in St Ann's Well Gardens since 2004.

  • 7pm, £10/£6, 01273 736222 Choirfest Brighton 2008, July 11-13, various locations Launched 26 years ago as part of the political protest song move-ment, this annual festival invites community choirs of all varieties to use song to make personal and global changes.

Featuring more than 20 choirs, highlights include a Massed Sing outside Jubilee Library (Saturday, July 12, from noon) and in front of the Fishing Museum in Kings Road Arches (Saturday, from 4pm). Buskers will perform around North Laine and the Royal Pavilion across the weekend.

  • Times vary, 01273 709709, visit www.choirfest.org for full programme Toad of Toad Hall, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, Westhampnett, Chichester, August 4-16 (not Sunday) The first of several dramatisations of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind In The Willows, AA Milne's play is presented by Chichester Festival Youth Theatre in the grounds of this car manufacturing plant.

Including a short walk through a variety of outdoor locations, it is suitable for children aged five and over. The performance on Wednes-day, August 13 includes a post-show discussion and Q&A with the cast.

  • £15/£7.50, times vary, 01243 781312 Much Ado About Nothing/Sleeping Beauty, Nymans Gardens July 5/Saturday, August 30 When the men of Sicily return from war, romance awaits them.

But after a jealous brother tells a lie, betrayal becomes the theme of the day and the honour of an innocent girl is called into doubt. Set against the romantic ruins of Nymans House, The Lord Chamberlain's Men present this all-male production of Shakespeare's enduring romantic comedy.

The following month, Chapterhouse Theatre stage well-loved fairytale Sleeping Beauty.

  • 7.30pm/6pm, £15/£8, 08715 271886 Various events Petworth Park, Petworth, July 11-13 Motown diva Diana Ross takes to the stage for the only outdoor gig of her five-date UK tour on Friday, July 11 (tickets £45-£75).

Set in the "Capability" Brown-designed deer park, it is the first of several outdoor events being staged next weekend at the National Trust property. On the Saturday (July 12), audiences can enjoy a programme of popular classical music from the London Gala Orchestra in the popular Proms In The Park event, which also includes a firework display (tickets £32/£15). On Sunday (July 13) UB40 will deliver hits like Rat In The Kitchen and Red, Red Wine in a gig that marks more than 20 years in music (tickets £32.50).

  • All events start at 8pm, 0870 8422230 Merchant Of Venice/Taming Of The Shrew, Highdown Gardens, Worthing, July 8-13/July, 15-20 Sallis Benney Quad Garden, Brighton, August 6-8/August 9-10 An ever-popular fixture on the Sussex summer calendar, Rainbow Shakespeare bring their two latest productions to Brighton for the first time this year.

After a run at Highdown Gardens, where the company has performed for the past 11 years, they will stage two contrasting Shakespeare comedies at the Sallis Benney Quad Garden. Company spokesman Ross Muir says: "What could be more magical, or essentially English, than watching an exciting, funny and understandable Shakes-peare play in the open-air, whilst relaxing with a picnic or just a drink?"

  • £12/£6, times vary, call 01903 206206 to book for Worthing, or 01273 709709 to book for Brighton.

Noah Babel's Ark, various locations across Sussex until August 24, ongoing "Basically, it's a comedy thriller, dark and menacing, with a surrealist twist. We don't want to give too much away but it's a reworking of the Noah's Ark legend."

So say Rude Mechanical Theatre company, of their latest outdoor production - the story of Polish Jewish carousel carver Noah Babel who, with his family, is trying to survive in the harsh world of jazz-crazed 1920s London.

  • £6-£11, times vary, 01323 501260 Fontwell Park Festival, Fontwell Park Racecourse, Fontwell, near Arundel, July 12 Jane McDonald heads a line-up that includes US singer Alexander O'Neal and members of hit show Magic Of Motown in a festival organisers describe as "a very glamorous affair".

"The stage will be visible for miles around," says producer Michael Taylor. "Jane McDonald's live show is not only famed for her sensational voice, talented band and fabulous backing singers - it's also renowned for her incredible frocks.

"Now by featuring the biggest, most spectacular stage of its kind in Europe, the setting for Jane and her fabulous evening dresses couldn't be better."

  • 4.30pm, £25, 01305 751631 Girls Aloud/Proms Spectacular, Battle Abbey, August 23/August 24, The pop five-piece perform hits such as Can't Speak French and Tangled Up in the majestic ruins of Battle Abbey on the Saturday, before a concert of more weighty music the following night.

West End conductor Jae Alexander will lead patriotic Last Night Of The Proms favourites, followed by a dazzling firework display later in the evening.

  • £28-£30/£27, both shows open at 5pm, call 0871 2716141