LOCAL community theatre actor Anthony Gilmartin has appeared in many musicals across the Aireborough region – notably in Brass Neck shows such as Spamalot at Yeadon but also as far back as 2000 when he unforgettably played the title role in Barnum for the Barnstormers Theatre Company at Guiseley.

He explained, by his own admission, he has always enjoyed the musical spotlight: “There’s nothing like performing songs in a musical that get rapturous applause and so really spur you on to deliver the best performance possible at every single show.”

So, when he was approached by Bingley Little Theatre to be in a new comedy – The Kitchen Sink – he read the script, thinking it might not, perhaps, appeal to him in the way a musical would.

“I couldn’t have been more wrong!” said Anthony. “The Kitchen Sink is a cracking comedy. When I was reading it, I was grinning from ear-to-ear throughout and laughing so much that my kids came into the room and asked me if I was ok! Each character has their own time in the limelight because they are so well drawn by the author, Tom Wells, whose plays have been staged at Leeds Playhouse.”

Wharfedale Observer: Anthony Gilmartin and Diane Todd Anthony Gilmartin and Diane Todd (Image: submitted)

The title is a crafty allusion both to Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle and, of course, a certain genre of British playwriting. The characters of Kath (played by Diane Todd), Martin (Anthony Gilmartin) Sophie (Hannah Wilkinson) and Billy (Sam Perkins) aren't angry, though, just quietly anxious that their home in Withernsea, Yorkshire, is in the middle of a rapidly contracting landscape of unskilled jobs that, for generations, have been performed with love and pride.

One hopes that The Kitchen Sink is not drawn from life, as this family certainly goes through tough times. Somehow though Wells, like another playwright who hails from Hull, Richard Bean (who wrote the riotous One Man, Two Guvnors) manages to lighten the atmosphere with some tremendous one-liners, which is where his greatest talent seems to lie. BLT is certain that this laugh-out-loud, laugh-a-minute comedy will be a big hit with audiences.

The Kitchen Sink is at Bingley Arts Centre from Monday, May 20 to Saturday, May 25. Seats can be reserved online at www.bingleyartscentre.co.uk or from the box office in person or by phone (01274 567983) from 10am – 1pm Monday to Friday.