Comedy

DONNA and Tracey work at the local supermarket. Donna hates the customers, while Tracey loves them perhaps a bit too much. Receptionists Pepsi and Lulu work at the town hall. They lick Weetabix for lunch so they can slim into their wedding dresses. Then there's Kay and Val. Val loves pooches but Kay has a dog phobia, a cheese allergy and a ranting armchair-bound mother.

Their stories entwine in a fast-paced comic tale of sex, death, corruption, friendship, family and Latvian cigarettes. Just two actresses play all the roles in Strife in a Northern Town, by Bradford writer and actress Jennifer Banks. Following its premiere last year, it was nominated for the Funny Women Best Show Award 2017.

Jennifer, who has been in Coronation Street and has a role in upcoming film Mrs Lowry and Son starring Timothy Spall and Vanessa Redgrave, said: “I wrote the script when I returned to Bradford after living in London for 15 years. It wasn’t the same city that I’d left - there’d been that massive hole in the town centre for years, and people seemed demoralised. This show celebrates ordinary people’s resilience when faced with the consequences of decisions made by those in power. Bradford was the inspiration, but but there's a universal theme.

* Strife In A Northern Town is at Bradford Playhouse on Saturday, June 9 and Saturday, June 16.