IT’S CURTAINS for the lovely old ladies of Farndale Avenue this month as they get involved in a deadly plot.

Harden Players are presenting The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery - Murder at Checkmate Manor.

And as usual with the Players, theatre fans have two weekends in order to see the play, with performances on Fridays and Saturdays September 28 and 29, and October 5 and 6.

Get down to Harden Congregational Church Theatre at 7.30pm each night to witness the mayhem as the townswomen proved they are the worst that amateur theatre has to offer.

The real-life actors of the Harden Players have to be on the ball though, for David McGillivray and Walter Zerlin Jr’s script calls for a non-stop succession of expertly-timed mistakes.

Expect dropped cues, falling scenery, scrambled sound effects and terrible lighting.

The co-directors are Charlotte Revill and Hannah Crabtree, and the cast includes Mark Coulthard and Amanda Petyt.

A Harden Players spokesman said: “This is a hilarious, fast-moving comedy where if anything can go

wrong, be assured it will! This is not to be missed.”

Tickets are on sale at Harden Post Office and are going fast.

Tickets costing £6 at selling fast at Harden Post Office, or by calling Patricia Parker on 01535 272207.

Five actors will play 16 characters between them, including a young tennis player, a bemused police inspector, a butler, and the elegant Lady Doreen who later becomes a batty old eccentric.

Murder At Checkmate Manor might also feature a film, a fashion show and a murder-mystery quiz for the audience.

In other plays in the series, which began life in the 1970s, the Farndale Avenue ladies have tried their hand at Shakespeare classic Macbeth and Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Mikado.