Seaside summer drama season features two premieres

A pair of prestigious premieres feature in the newly-announced summer season drama line-up at Sheringham Little Theatre.

Shanty is a brand new comedy, with live music, based on a Cromer sea shanty singing fishermen and his family. Running from August 8-12 it charts daughter Shanty’s creation of a band to tackle the family’s fishing business woes. It is penned by North Norfolk based playwright, poet and EastEnders scriptwriter James McDermott.

Run For Your Man (August 22-26), by farce master Ray Cooney, is a modern twist on his classic Run For Your Wife – putting cabbie Jackie into the main role, juggling two husbands in two different towns, before her life unravels.

Shanty will see its first ever performances, and Run for Your Man its UK debut, during the Sheringham summer season which comprises five plays, delivered by nine professional actors and four community cast members over six weeks.

The other summer shows are:

· I Am Hamlet (Jul 29-Aug 5), a comic thriller with fun and dark plot twists as a young actor auditions for the lead role in Shakespeare’s tragedy

· Hound of the Baskervilles (Aug 15-19), a comedy spoof of the Sherlock Holmes moors murder

· Private Lives (Aug 29-Sep 2), Noel Coward’s intimate comedy involving two mismatched couple.

Theatre director Debbie Thompson said: “We always try to balance staging new work with traditional favourites, so we are thrilled to be able to host two premieres as well as some new slants on well-known dramas and some evergreen wit from Noel Coward. It fits our aim to provide something for everyone.”

A concert by the Sheringham Shantymen on July 30 sets the scene for Shanty a few days later, and there are two summer concerts raising funds for the theatre being held at Mannington Hall, the home of theatre president Lady Walpole – a party night with the Lee Vasey Big Band on Friday July 21 and a classical picnic concert by the Flutes and Frets Duo the following day.

Other spring and summer shows in the new season include:

· April 1 – Forever Young – East Anglian Film Archive footage celebrates how British youth cultures in 1970s and 80s linked to the music and fashion of the time and transformed society.

· April 13-15 – The Jungle Book – a 40-strong youth cast perform the Disney kids version as an Easter family treat, complete with all the best known characters and songs.

· May 31 – War of the Worlds (On A Budget) – One man, his props and puppets pay homage to H G Wells sci-fi classic in a musical action adventure.

· June 16 – Dial Medicine for Murder – a docudrama delving into stories of doctors Harold Shipman and John Bodkin Adams, who were convicted and rumoured serial killers.

Details of the shows which can be seen on our What’s On page here