NOT SO HO HO HO: Gainford Drama Club’s Keith Irons and Jo Longstaff ready to take to the stage with A Kick in the Baubles
NOT SO HO HO HO: Gainford Drama Club’s Keith Irons and Jo Longstaff ready to take to the stage with A Kick in the Baubles

REHEARSALS are well underway for Gainford Drama Club’s seasonal offering which will be performed later this month.

The club only performed the Gordon Steel rib-tickling farce A Kick in the Baubles eight years ago. However, cast and audiences enjoyed it so much they have decided to bring it back to the stage.

Club secretary Ronnie Lowery said: “It was one of our most popular productions of the last 20 years and we all enjoyed doing it.”

This year Keith Irons will be playing Frank, who shares his thoughts and feelings on Christmas with the audience as his harassed wife Jean, played by Jo Longstaff, insists on shopping at 5am and monitors his consumption of mince pies.

It’s Christmas Eve and the in-laws are expected. The play, which is billed as the perfect antidote to Christmas, sees Frank’s hopes of a silent night ruined as in-laws and noisy neighbours invade during the festive season, leaving him to hope it won’t be Christmas every day.

There is tension and squabbling at every turn, laughter and sudden tenderness when the couple’s estranged daughter appears unexpectedly.

Tickets are on sale for all eight performances and cost £8 plus a seven per cent booking fee from www.ticketsource .co.uk/gainford-academy-theatre or from Gainford Box Office on 07876 181110.

A Kick in the Baubles runs from Wednesday, November 20, to Saturday November 23, then Wednesday, November 27, until Saturday, November 30. Curtains up on weekday performances at 7.30pm at the Academy Theatre in Gainford.

Saturday performances are both matinees, starting at 2pm.