NEW theatre company Silver Pine Productions is to perform an evening of new writing at The Old Dancer in Wilmslow.

The evenings are entitled Wear Pearls and Smile, and consist of five short plays produced by the Manchester-based company.

Each play lasts about 15 minutes, and are a mixture of light and dark, all touching on gender roles and what straightjackets they can be.

“Wear Pearls and Smile is an evening of five short plays, 15 to 20 minutes each, all written by myself or Beverley Green, produced by the two of us and directed by Beverley [47],” said Anna Girolami, 50.

“The five plays are all very different - two humorous, the other three fairly grim.

“However, one strand they all share is that they show that people can get trapped in the roles that are expected of them - particularly gender roles - and that this can be not just restricting but actually damaging.

“We have an extensive - and extremely capable - cast, drawn from both sides of the Pennines.

"Silver Pine Productions is the brainchild of me and Beverley Green.

"We met in January at a workshop in Manchester. That night, I went home and dreamed about forming a theatre company with her, complete with name and logo - so that's what we did!

"We both write and Bev also acts and we were bemoaning the difficulty of getting one's written work produced.

"It occurred to us that, between us, we had enough work to put on our own evening.

"Between the two of us, we do everything - or find the people to do the things we can't. We both write and produce, Bev also acts and directs and we've found the rest of the cast via an audition process.

"Wear Pearls and Smile is our inaugural production. The Old Dancer was one of a list of affordable small venues we were looking at.

"Emily and co who run the place were so encouraging and helpful that they were easily the best choice. They've been incredibly helpful in all respects. We owe them heartfelt thanks.

"Our plan is to use any profits gleaned from the two Wilmslow performances to hire one of the smaller Manchester theatres early next year and put on Wear Pearls and Smile, perhaps for five nights.

"So many people have put in so much work for this production that it seems daft not to extract as much value out of it as possible.

"The five short plays are all this far unperformed, although Chuddy was involved in a script-in-hand process at Oldham Coliseum earlier this year via Manchester ADP.

"Bev and I had four of the plays already written when we met, I wrote Chuddy specifically for Silver Pine Productions.

"When we have finished with this block of work, we both have other scripts in development.

"I would say the evening would be suitable for adults and teenagers. There is a certain amount of profanity and some adult themes."

27 Clayton Road

Gail: Rachel Howard - Lawyer: Emma Tugman

Chuddy

Heather: Fiona Egan - Jax: Ali Donohue - Kris: Lee Fletcher

Control

Karl: Ciàran Griffiths - Lisa: Lindsay Bennett - June: Wendy Patterson - Claire: Beverley Green - Dan: Greg Kelly - Steve: Stephen Whitfield Nigel: Lee Fletcher

Home Is Where You Go To

Maggie: Wendi Walker - Ted: Colin Titley - Janey: Angela Wityszyn - Sam: Andrew Husband

Middlepause

Marjorie: Beverley Green - Jean: Betty Webster - Janet: Wendy Patterson Doreen: Emma Tugman - Barry: Stephen Whitfield - Rona: Fiona Egan Zara: Teresa Powell - Edward: Andrew Husband - Maureen: Ali Donohue Sandra: Wendi Walker

There will be two performances – Tuesday, October 24 and Thursday, October 26.

Doors open at 7.30pm for an 8 o’clock-ish start.

Tickets are £5 each and available through eventbrite or on the door. The room can hold an audience of 60.