Double bill of comedy and music by Noel Coward is on its way to Scarborough's YMCA Theatre - dates and ticket information

The show opens with an introduction to the famous stage partnership and lifelong friendship of Noël Coward and Gertrude Lawrence.

Scripted by producer Tim Tubbs, who plays Noël to Kathryn Irwin’s Gertie, accompanied by musical director Bill Scott, Introducing Noel and Gertie includes a wealth of great songs by Coward, Gershwin, Porter, Weill and Rodgers and Hammerstein.

The second half is Coward’s witty ‘interlude with music’ Red Peppers, originally written as a starring vehicle for himself and Gertie.

Tim Tubbs and Linda Polkowski play George and Lily Pepper, a sparring song-and-dance vaudeville act in the 1930s dying days of music hall.

Set in a Northern town’s failing Palace of Varieties, the play glories in the backstage shenanigans on the Saturday night ‘second house’.

After messing up their opening number, the Peppers burst into dressing room recriminations, before engaging in hilarious combat with orchestra leader Bert Bentley (Chris Curtis), theatre manager Mr Edwards (Chris Gray) and faded West End Shakespearian actress Mabel Grace (Sue Wilding), under the gleeful eye of call-boy Alf (Kian Moore).

“Coward’s plays sparkle”, says producer/director Tim Tubbs, “with glorious bitchery. He grew up in a family that rowed constantly; and in his struggling years as a young actor, witnessed the backstage feuding and finagling of the touring theatre circuit’s performers.

"This unique experience shaped his gift for the glorious, comic stage arguments and confrontations that characterise the best of his writing, from Hay Fever and Fallen Angels to Private Lives and Red Peppers. These plays splendidly celebrate verbal sparring matches at their best!”

This delightfully tuneful, comic presentation offers Scarborough a rare chance to enjoy Noël Coward’s work at its wittiest 1930s best: all style, bitchy campery and great songs.

The show is on 7.30pm Saturday February 12 at 7.30pm and Sunday February 13 at 3pm.#

Tickets: £12.50 / £10 Seniors / £7.50 students & under-18s

Box office: 01723-506750 or www.ymcascarborough.uk