On rare occasions, a documentary film tells a story so engaging at the heart level that it could have been a folk song. In the case of Alex Holmes’ Maiden — currently screening at Upstate Films, and coming to the Rosendale Theatre August 9 — it’s a variant on the classic tale of a bold English lass who runs away to sea to escape a wicked stepparent. Only this time, instead of cutting off her lovely locks and disguising herself as a cabin boy, this “female rambling sailor” acquires her own ship and recruits a whole crew of similarly adventurous young women to beat the lads at their own game.

Through Aug. 18: Shear Madness has an interesting history. It’s essentially a food-free stage version of the now-ubiquitous participatory phenomenon known as murder mystery dinner theater, which itself is rooted in games that became popular in Great Britain beginning in the late 19th century, following a notorious 1860 child-killing known as the Road Hill Murder.

The Irish-born Jessie Buckley came in second on a BBC vocal talent show called I’d Do Anything, but she’s now one of the stars of this year’s HBO hit miniseries Chernobyl. Buckley plays a working-class 23-year-old unwed mother of two from Glasgow who’s obsessed with American country music.

Thursday-Sunday, July 11-28: Though dense with the rapid-fire witty banter for which the playwright is renowned, Blithe Spirit’s tone is as lightweight as ectoplasm, treating the subject of death so casually that British audiences demoralized by their losses in World War II found the play a welcome tonic. Its West End run ran for 1,997 performances, setting a record at the time for non-musicals, and it quickly moved on to Broadway.