Harriet Walter's brief encounter in Bath

Harriet Walter

The actress Harriet Walter, who is currently starring in the Donmar's all-female Julius Caesar, will narrate the role of Scout in the courtroom scene of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird at the Bath Literature Festival on the 8 and 9 March.

Directed by Marilyn Imrie, the trial scene will be staged in a courtroom in Bath's the Guildhall for four performances, with the American actor Guy Paul playing the narrator's father Atticus Finch, with students from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and the black gospel choir Nitrovax.

As Scout, Walter watches the events unfold from the "coloured section" of the court room as her father defends the black man Tom Robinson who is accused of rape.

This is just one of over 200 events at The Independent Bath Literature festival, which has a stellar line- up of novelists this year including Hilary Mantel and J K Rowling.

The Independent Bath Literature Festival, various venues (bathlitfest.org.uk) 1 to 10 March