Dale's chance to be a bad 'un

Lynsey Whittam and Ambrose Griffiths join regular Keighley performers in the traditional family show Aladdin.

Rachel McMahon, seen several times over the past year with Keighley Playhouse, returns to the Amateurs to take the title role.

She performs opposite principal girl Lynsey, who was excellent in Bingley Amateurs' State Fair last autumn.

Ambrose -- recruited after being seen last summer dancing in Ilkley Upstagers' 42nd Street -- is the genie of the lamp.

Steven Clark plays Widow Twankey, two years after making his debut as Keighley's Dame.

Aladdin producer Keith Marsden says: "Costumed in his celebrated dame outfits, Steven has no difficulty looking like a ship in full sail!"

Anthony Waddington, last year's Keighley dame, indulges his talent for crazy comedy as the Chief of Police.

And returning as chief clown, opposite the dame, is regular musicals leading man Peter Whitley.

Keith says Peter -- who took the title role in Scrooge last October -- has made the role of leading panto comic his own.

He says: "Peter started ten years ago at Harden as one of Snow White's dwarfs and has grown in stature ever since.

"He loves the broad traditional yet tropical panto humour as purveyed for many years by Keighley's writers."

Those writers -- Keith and his long-time partner Geoff Rundle -- have again updated one of their tried-and-tested scripts.

Taking a break from comedy this year, in order to play Abanazar, is long-time Keighley Amateurs member Dale Chadwick.

Keith says: "This is Dale's first big chance to be a bad 'un.

"One of the plum villains of panto, this part was played professionally a record 37 successive years by one Eric Moss."

Completing the comic team are veterans Robert Lister and Peter Greenwood as the Emperor of China and the Grand Vizier.

Ann Styles plays the Slave of the Ring, following her appearances as the fairy in the previous two Keighley pantos.

Aladdin is staged at Victoria Hall, Keighley, from January 25-February 1, including Saturday and Sunday matinees.

Tickets are on sale at Keighley Information Centre in the town hall, or by phoning 01535 652547.

n Claims of Satanic abuse are the starting point for a chilling drama this month at Keighley Playhouse.

The Devil at Midnight centres on a young woman whose childhood experiences in a care home are revealed under hypnosis.

Her psychiatrist finds herself under pressure because the allegations concern her own social worker husband.

The result is what director Mike Boothroyd describes as a taut drama driven by an intelligent script.

The experienced Playhouse actor and director says The Devil at Midnight is one of the best modern thrillers he has read in years.

He says: "It examines the devastating impact on people's lives when the authorities reach the wrong conclusions on flimsy evidence.

"With twists and turns of plot throughout, the audience will be held in suspense until the devastating final revelations."

Real-life husband and wife Geoff and Joan Whitley play Jack and Liz Burns in the January 20-25 production.

Jack is a senior social worker with political ambitions and Liz a psychiatrist specialising in treating severely traumatised patients.

The revelations of Liz's patient, Nicky, threaten both the couple's marriage and Jack's ambitions to be an MP. Nicky, played by Nicola Rawling, and her brother are determined to exact revenge on those responsible for the abuse.

Muddying the waters is the involvement of a psychotic man with a hold over the couple's own daughter.

Then there is the killing of Nicky's father and the hit-and-run death of a visiting American psychologist.

Tickets are on sale for The Devil at Midnight at Keighley Information Centre in the town hall, or by phoning 08451 267859.

n Kevin Moore brought a touch of summer to the freezing autumn when he recently directed his first musical.

The moment he finished Bingley Amateurs' State Fair, he switched chairs to direct Bingley Little Theatre's latest production.

Don't Dress For Dinner takes Kevin back to his first love, comedy, for two hours of finely-tuned French farce.

Despite massive experience over the past few years both performing and directing comedy, Kevin sees farce as the hardest thing to put on stage.

He says: "January is the hardest rehearsal schedule with Christmas and New Year taking two weeks out of the timetable.

"I'm really enjoying it and I hope the audiences will too. Don't Dress For Dinner is just the job for cheering people up."

Kevin will return to the stage with Heaton Amateurs in the musical Guys and Dolls, then returns to Keighley Playhouse to direct its April production The Perfect Murder.

Don't Dress For Dinner runs from Monday to Saturday at Bingley Arts Centre (7.30 pm). Phone 01274 752000 for tickets.