BINGLEY Little Theatre is presenting two separate productions this month at its base in Bingley Arts Centre.

The main stage will offer If I Were You, Alan Ayckbourn’s comedy about a husband and wife who accidentally swap bodies, from Monday to Saturday next week.

This weekend, in the Little Theatre’s Studio at the back of the Arts Centre, will be Coarse Acting Strikes Back.

The collection of short plays is based on Michael Green’s famous book about amateur dramatics, written along with Rupert Bean.

The cast includes Keighley Playhouse actors Mavis Walsh from Riddlesden, Deborah Mouat from Haworth, Jan Darnbrough, David Templeton and Hannah Taylor.

Also performing will be Rosie Crabb-Wyke and Cassie Fonth, and the show is directed by Brian Stoner.

The show is described as a hilarious exploration of the art of coarse acting, performances that are deliberately designed to be prolifically bad on every level.

A spokesman said: “The three short plays closely observe the calamitous situations which amateur companies helplessly fall into.

“Expect the best and worst from A Collier’s Tuesday Tea (with apologies to DH Lawrence), Pride at Southanger Park (words by Jane and costumes by Ethel) and even a panto Cinderella presented by the St Oswald’s Dramatic Operatic Friendly Fellowship.

“Expect unimpressive sets, backstage rivalry, missed lines and total chaos as the well-intentioned productions fall to pieces. – pure awfulness is deliberately intentional!”

Coarse Acting Strikes Back is presented on Saturday and Sunday (May 23/24) at 7.30pm.

If I Were You focuses on married couple Mal and Jill, one the manager of a furniture showroom and the other a full-time housewife and mother.

David Helliwell and Gilly Rogers play the pair, with Laura Hawkyard and Ben Pearson as their children and David Elliot as Mal’s work colleague.

Alan Ayckbourn wrote the play in 2006, about an unhappy married couple who are given the chance to understand each other by literally switching places.

The play was one of several attempts Alan Ayckbourn made to write a play involving swapping bodies.

The original 2006 production in Scarborough featured a cast including Liza Goddard, who remained with the production when it toured the UK.

If I Were You will be staged from Monday to Saturday at 7.30pm in Bingley Arts Centre.

Bingley Little Theatre will also present classic black comedy The Ladykillers., which was recently adapted to great success in the West End from the 1950s film. The play will be performed from July 6 to 11.

Bingley Arts Centre will also host Bingley Amateurs’ production of musical The Full Monty from June 2 to 6, Musica Lyric Opera’s version of The Merry Widow on June 7, and adult comedian Roy Chubby Brown on June 13.

Visit ticketsource.co.uk/bingleyartscentre or call 01274 567983 to book tickets for the shows.