New season’s plays open with comedy (From Wharfedale Observer)

Ilkley Playhouse

12:16pm Friday 22nd June 2012 in Entertainment

Last Saturday, several members of Ilkley Playhouse had an enjoyable day manning a stall at the third annual Ilkley Business Forum Summer Showcase at the King’s Hall.

There was a great atmosphere to the day, which ran from 10am to 4pm, and a good number of people coming through. Visitors to the Playhouse stall picked up free Playhouse pens and the brand new semi-annual brochure outlining the first five plays in the new season, beginning in September. These include season opener Moonlight and Magnolias – a comedy about the writing of the screenplay for Gone with the Wind, a youth production of Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood and the ever-popular The Importance of Being Earnest, which will be the Christmas production.

The final play of this season, running from July 4 to 14, is The Years Between by Daphne du Maurier. Set during the Second World War, this engaging drama concerns a woman whose husband, an MP, has gone missing presumed dead. She finds a new purpose in life when she takes on her husband’s political duties and begins a new relationship. But then her life is thrown into disarray when her husband reappears... Book your tickets now through the box office.

The Playhouse’s next social event will take place on Saturday at 7.30pm with another Murder Mystery – Murder on’t Moor – in the Wildman Studio. Guests will be invited to solve the murder of the chairman of a local rambling society, found dead near the Twelve Apostles stones on Ilkley Moor. There are eight suspects, but who had the greatest reason for wishing the chairman dead? Tickets cost £12.50 and include a delicious picnic banquet. Guests are invited to dress in hiking clothes and walking boots to help PC Plodder investigate the crime.

The Wharfeside Theatre will host a special charity concert by Ilkley-based singer songwriter Rupert Stroud at 7.30pm on June 30.

Having released his debut album in 2009, Rupert will be performing a selection of songs in a concert dedicated to his grandmother, who died two years ago after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s. The concert is the first of a series of fundraising events for the charity Alzheimer’s Research UK. Tickets are £12, and are available by contacting the Playhouse box office.

Tickets for all the above-mentioned events can be booked by calling the Playhouse box office on (01943) 609539, from 9.30am to 11.30am and 1pm to 3pm. Log on to ilkleyplayhouse.co.uk for further information.