Ilkley Playhouse re-opens its doors on Monday and starts the new season with a double helping of Alan Bennett.

The painters and carpet fitters have been completing their work and soon the road outside will be cleared of the contractor's huts, the protective fencing will come down and the road surface be made up.

After six months of chaos, Weston Road will return to normality, to everyone's relief, especially that of the local residents who have had to put up with the noise, debris, disturbance and inconvenience inevitably linked to any large building project.

But now the end of the disruption is in sight, but the total project work will not be completed by the time the theatre opens on December 7.

The work has been carried out by Ilkley-based Quarmby Construction Company Ltd. Managing director David Jones said the company's aim was to create a venue that the whole community could be proud of.

A £544,611 grant from the Arts Council, £50,000 from the Federation for Sports and the Arts and an intensive fundraising campaign has resulted in the scheme going ahead. There will not be public access to the new studio building for several weeks yet and patrons should be aware that some of the internal restoration work for which the Players rather than the contractors are responsible will not be completed before the opening.

The players open the new season on Monday with two of Alan Bennett's solo pieces from the first TV series of 'Talking Heads' - 'A Chip in the Sugar' and 'Soldiering On', in place of the advertised 'Rosie and the Bad Bad Apples', which has been rescheduled for January due to technical problems.

These witty, poignant and shrewdly observed vignettes of modern life are an ideal showcase for two of Ilkley's finest performers, Kay Vann and Peter Stansfield.

Graham, middle-aged, unemployed and still dominated by his mother; and Muriel, a widow gradually declining into 'genteel' poverty due to the actions of her speculator son, are classic Bennett creations, here combined to provide the balance of humour and sadness whch is the unmistakable hallmark of Bennett at his finest.

'Talking Heads' open Monday, December 7, and runs for two weeks.

Last month, Ray Parish, chairman of Ilkley Playhouse, said he would like to thank everyone for being so patient while the work was being carried out.

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