Following a six month hiatus, the Frodsham Players are back with At Last...The 2020 Show!, a collection of eight sketches, monologues and short plays, to be performed in Castle Park Art Centre's courtyard.

After a successful winter performance of A Christmas Carol, which saw the Players garner nine nominations at the Cheshire Theatre Guild Awards, the group were forced to cancel their spring play, Visiting Hour, due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

The Players had been preparing for an online murder mystery evening, but when restrictions on social gatherings were relaxed, they decided to rehearse this show, as "a gift to the people who support us."

I went along to last night's rehearsal, where group Chairman Ian Lancaster explained the inspiration behind this light-hearted evening of comedic entertainment.

"We didn't want anything heavy, given what everyone has been through. We were looking for shorter pieces, that didn't involve much in terms of props, scenery, lighting or special effects, because that brings too many people together. We wanted things that could easily be rehearsed in isolation. One-handers, two-handers, that sort of thing," he said.

"We just want people to come along and have a laugh!"

The result is a wide-ranging assortment of sketches, jumping from a walking tour of 'Plodsbury', dubbed 'the Milan of East Anglia' by its earnest guide, to a gossiping 'girly get-together' gone mad.

We see a gaggle of air-kissing 'luvvies' crucifying the script of their much more sensible playwright, a jaded magician at the end of his tether with his new assistant, talking dogs, ramblers gone astray, and a blind date gone badly wrong.

While some pieces have been written by cast members themselves, most have been sourced from Lazy Bee Scripts, with cast members rehearsing over Zoom until now.

As well as remembering their lines and cues, the actors now have the added pressure of observing social distancing guidelines as they perform. In their sketches, they are endeavouring to keep their distance from each other and the audience, and must avoid sharing props and makeup.

They have also developed a one-way system of entrances and exits through the courtyard, which will help to make the performance as safe as possible.

The show will run from 16th-19th September in the courtyard of the Castle Park Arts Centre at 7:30pm.

Performance by kind permission of Lazy Bee scripts.