Cream of Yorkshire amateur actors compete as one-act drama festival returns to Knaresborough's Fraser Theatre

The proceedings will be under the watchful eye of Chris Baglin of the Guild of Drama Adjudicators.

The programme:

Thursday April 21

Woodlands Drama Group – last year’s winners at Saltburn – open the festival with Take What You Want, a macabre thriller by local short story writer Victoria Day who here marks her debut as a playwright.

They will be followed by Pateley Bridge Dramatic Society with American comedy Wedding Bash by Andrew Leeds and Lyndsey Kraft.

Friday April 22

The junior section of Northern Performance Academy open the show with Waiting for Him to Die by Kelly Nevett, a play which examines the impact of late-stage dementia on a family.

The festival will end with The Last Memory by Alan Stockdill performed by Talking Stock Productions, of Halifax. When a man’s fading memory is finally diagnosed with Alzheimer’s he resolves to leave a vital imprint of who he is.

The section winners of this year’s Nidderdale will contest the Northern Final of the All-England Theatre Festival which will take place the following weekend at Saltburn Community Theatre.

The grand final will take place at the Courtyard Theatre, Hereford, over the Jubilee Bank Holiday in June.

Tickets can be reservedat festival box office: 01423 712240 or purchased on the door on the night.