OUR popular fringe production Bard in the Yard returns this month for its fifth consecutive year.

This year you can look forward to half-hour adaptations of Richard III and The Tempest directed by Dick Hebbert and Andrew Leggott. Performances will take place at 7.30pm on Saturday, August 24 in the Wildman Studio and at 2pm in the Manor House Yard on Sunday, August 25 and Monday, August 26 (Bank Holiday). Please note that to book for the Manor House performances, please book via their website admin@ilkleymanorhouse.org If the weather is inclement on the Sunday or Monday, we have the option of transferring back to Ilkley Playhouse which is less than five minutes’ walk away. Tickets are just £8 full price and £5 for students. Each play lasts approximately 30 minutes.

Our first Wharfeside Theatre production of the Autumn/Winter season is Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, opening on September 12. When Dr Stockmann discovers the town’s famous spa waters are poisoned, she expects to be treated as a hero for averting an environmental catastrophe. Instead, she is accused by her brother - the town’s mayor - of threatening the town’s livelihood. Public and media opinion divides and the community splits into factions. Would you make a stand, even if it led to your family’s social isolation? And when does a moral campaign tip into ego-driven martyrdom? Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s contemporary take on Henrik Ibsen’s powerful classic drama tackles fake news, whistle-blowers and the corruption of power which challenges both personal and global politics. This timely and gripping play runs until September 21.

This season’s poetry and literature course is a combined ten-week course starting on Thursday, September 5. The literature element of the course tackles the work of French novelist Marcel Proust and attempts to remove the intimidation factor that his writing can sometimes present. The course offers a friendly, supportive and encouraging environment in which to delve into his work. The poetry section of the course concerns ‘place’ – a subject that has long fascinated poets. Pastoral, landscape, cityscape, nature – a host of locations have inspired poets to contemplate the relationship between humans and the places we inhabit. The course features poetry from the Romantics to the 21st Century, from Wordsworth to Armitage. The course tutor is Dr Robert Hemmings who has been teaching, researching and writing about literature and culture for more than twenty-five years. He is passionate about lifelong learning and is delighted to have this opportunity to read and discuss poetry and literature at Ilkley Playhouse.

The first of our two fringe productions of the Autumn/Winter season is Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons and will be performed in the Wildman Studio from September 26 to 28. The average person will speak 123,205,750 words in a lifetime. But what if there were a limit? This play imagines a world where we are forced to say less. The play is a tender and funny romantic comedy about what we say and how we say it, about the things we can only hear in the silence, activism, eye contact and lemons, lemons, lemons, lemons, lemons.

Celtic folk trio band Roisin Ban return to Ilkley Playhouse on Friday, November 1 for an evening of lively, Celtic folk music and song. Playing a mix of traditional Irish and Scottish folk songs and tunes, this accomplished band is well-respected on the UK folk scene.

Our first Stagefright Comedy Club of the season takes place on Saturday, November 2. The event will be frontlined by Mick Ferry who is renowned as a fine purveyor of surrealism and voted best UK Stand-Up in a national poll of his peers. Mick has starred in The Comedy Store for Comedy Central, Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow, Edinburgh Comedy Fest, The World Stands Up aswell as the Ken Loach film Looking for Eric. Joining him will be comedian Karl Porter – a fantastic natural born gagster from the North-West England. A ‘Lad of the Year’ nominee, you can’t but help love his cheeky and unique self-deprecation, laced with tall tales and hilarious observations. Stevie Cairns will also be performing, described as having ‘an immediately likeable stage presence, delivering inventive storytelling material and memorable punchlines’. Joining them will be Andy Ellis, described as ‘one of the best new acts around’ (Micky P Kerr – Britain’s Got Talent Finalist). The event will be compered by Anthony J Brown.

To book tickets for all our plays and events visit www.ilkleyplayhouse.co.uk or contact Ilkley Playhouse box office on 01943 609539.