A WORLD premiere of a comedy play set in Cumbria is to be performed by Penrith Players at the town's Playhouse theatre next week.
Spies, Lies and Bowties, written by the group's Tash Binder, is a comedy caper based on fictional characters conceived by Penrith solicitor Sarah Griffiths, who writes under the name G. S. Walker.
Jess Crumback-Nyahoe, who is co-directing the play with Emma Watson, said they found themselves laughing out loud when reading it through on her lawn one summer's day.
"It has been a joy to watch our talented cast bring these characters to life on stage," said Jess.
"I'm very proud of each and every one of them, because this is all their own imagination and creativity."
At the heart of the story is Maggie Bladder-Warwick, who lives in the once-grand Bladder Hall, situated in a "rural but stately" part of the Lake District, known as Greater Cockup.
A wedding for her youngest offspring, Johnny, is hastily being pulled together, while in completely unrelated circumstances Maggie's husband, Douglas, is doing some organising of his own.
Having recently retired from the estates management game, he spends his afternoons gardening with green-fingered and flirty widow Totty Grunt-Withering and engaging in amateur espionage for a mysterious Russian named Smolenski.
"When their worlds collide and threaten to interfere with Maggie's grand plans, she must think quickly and get resourceful in the only way she knows how — by making do, calling in favours from all her friends and getting stuck in," explains Tash.
Having previously adapted young adult author Eleanor Updale's award-winning Victorian detective novel Montmorency into a play, which was staged by Penrith Players in 2023, Tash was looking for another subject for a theatrical adaptation and was signposted towards the writing of G. S. Walker by then theatre committee chairman Mike Head. Her writing is set very much in the Lake District and Tash said it was an appealing concept to bring the area to life on stage.
"Obviously, Greater Cockup doesn't exist, but the hill, known as Great Cockup, does.
"There is also mention of Carlisle and different places in the area. It is certainly set in Cumbria," said Tash, who now lives in Penrith, but grew up in Norfolk.
She added: "I think it is important to get stories based in Cumbria on the stage. It is a really interesting place and such a diverse area — so there are lots of different stories (to be told)."
The play is being performed at Penrith Playhouse from Wednesday, 14th, to Saturday, 17th October. Tickets are available from penrithplayers.co.uk and Penrith TIC.
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