Historical Halloween

Red Sauce Theatre are taking over Treadgolds Warehouse on Saturday 31 October for Historical Halloween, an immersive family storytelling experience that puts the Victorian era front and centre. It's a Halloween night with a bit of history to it, and it's part of the Portsmouth100 celebrations — the city's centenary commemoration that's running throughout 2026 with live music, fireworks and a sculpture trail, alongside a '100 Things to See and Do' brochure.

The main draw is Rachella the Storyteller, who tells the real-life story of Florence Nightingale and the Crimean War. She doesn't just talk through it, though; she brings the whole thing to life with performance and her eerie, large-scale Victorian puppets. Along the way, she also introduces Mary Seacole and her own contribution to the war, so you get two sides of the story rather than just the one name everyone knows.

There's more to it than just watching the show. Children get to explore Victorian remedies and mix their own imaginative magical potion to take home, and families can visit Rachella's traditional Fortune Telling Booth, which is inspired by the travelling fortune tellers and popular entertainments of the past. It's the kind of thing that works as well for the kids as it does for the adults, with the puppets and the potion-making keeping the younger ones busy while the storytelling carries the rest.

It all happens at Treadgolds Warehouse on Saturday 31 October, so it's a proper Halloween date. If you're looking for something to do with the family that's a bit more than just sweets and costumes, this is a good shout.