The first play of the 2015-16 season will be Michael Cooney’s popular comedy Cash on Delivery running 12^th - 19^th September 2015 on the Main Stage.

There is a play reading on Sunday 8^th March at 7pm in the theatre bar and anyone who is interested in appearing in the play, or simply curious about the script, is welcome to come along.

Plot

Eric Swan and his Uncle George have led a comfortable life fraudulently claiming thousands of pounds from the DSS. When Eric’s lodger Norman innocently lets Mr Jenkins, the DSS inspector into the house, it ignites an increasingly farcical series of events as Eric tries to cover his tracks.

Characters:

Eric Swan
Linda Swan (his wife)
Norman Bassett
Mr Jenkins (DSS inspector)
Uncle George
Sally Chessington (welfare officer)
Dr Chapman (marriage guidance counsellor)
Mr Forbright (undertaker)
Ms Cowper (DSS inspector)
Miss Dixon (Norman’s girlfriend)

A special one-off performance of Cotton Queen, a play that provides a fascinating insight into mill life through an annual beauty competition that took place in the cotton mills of Lancashire prior to the Second World War, is being staged at Bolton Little Theatre on 25th March 2015.

Cotton Queen is performed by Bolton based On The Go Theatre group in partnership with Bolton Arts Forum and as part of the Mills Mines Machinery project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). Music is provided by local singer/songwriter Ken Scally.

The play tells the story of Deane mill worker Doris Bower who won was crowned Cotton Queen in 1936. The competition was a highly prestigious and very popular event organised by national newspaper the Daily Sketch and sponsored by the cotton industry. It was fiercely contested by mills from all over the Lancashire with the final held each year at Blackpool.

Elizabeth Tatman of the Bolton Arts Forum says, “Cotton Queen takes us into a world that was commonplace not that long ago. The mills of Lancashire and indeed Bolton were not only important to the local economy but were at the hub of social life. The play encapsulates what life was like for mill workers in the 1930’s and shows how this glamorous competition was an antidote to the depressed 1930s.

Cotton Queen is at Bolton Little Theatre on Weds 25^th March, 2015 at 7.30pm.
Tickets are £5 and can be reserved by calling 01204 596246.