OUR relationship with food goes under the spotlight for the next three nights when three of Dorset's leading performers stage a show celebrating its infinite variety.

Beanfeast, which was first staged at St Mary's School in Bridport on International Women's Day 2008, is a cabaret-style serving of poetry, prose and music dedicated to eating and our attitudes towards food.

It is performed by musician and singer Sammy Hurden and film, stage and television actors Cheryl Campbell and Harriet Walter.

Together they provide a banquet of stimulating ideas, expressed through words and song and always featuring one of the basic necessities of life - food. The performance is then followed by a delicious meal.

Beanfeast will feature writers such as Pablo Neruda, Seamus Heaney, Elizabeth David, Sarah Maitland and Mrs Beeton.

Sammy is a singer/songwriter and pianist and has worked as a community musician for many years, leading choral projects, whether with adults, schools, hospitals, prisons, bringing to different aspects of society the joy of singing.

She said: "I love working with theatre and have relished this opportunity to work with such fine actresses on Beanfeast."

Cheryl Campbell, who lives near Dorchester, is a star of stage and screen, who came to the attention of the nation in 1978's Pennies From Heaven, and 1979's Testament of Youth, for which she won a BAFTA. She also starred in the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire and more recently in the popular TV shows Spooks, Lewis, Poirot and William and Mary.

Cheryl, whose father also lived in the county, said: "We performed it first at St Mary's and it went rather well so we are thrilled to be able to perform it again.

"We read the poems and Sammy performs music, which I think is a nice addition. We went through it with her, made decisions about this and that and then she came up with some really nice songs.

"Because we have just an hour to perform in some of the readings are cut down a bit, which is a shame, but the audience still gets a flavour of this wonderful writing."

She added: "It is an interesting take on food and people's attitudes to it. People have very different relationships with food. Some people like it but don't cook, others cook but aren't that fussed about food and some people just see food as a necessity, as a fuel for their bodies. I certainly don't agree with that!"

Harriet Walter is one of Britain's greatest classical actresses with a career spanning more than 25 years on screen and stage. Recently Harriet appeared in the blockbuster films Atonement and Babel, as well as cameo TV roles in Poirot, Doctors and Spooks.

Tilly Tremayne, who shares the Beanfeast role with Harriet, has been acting for nearly 40 years, appearing most recently in 2007's Persuasion, as well as TV favourites such as Doctors, The Vice, Heartbeat and London's Burning.

Booking is essential for Beanfeast, which can be seen at Melbury Osmond Village Hall today (call 01935 83410 for bookings ands full details), at Powerstock Hut tomorrow (call 01308 485205) and at Sturminster Marshall Memorial Hall on Saturday, September 20 (call 01258 858311).

All performances start at 7.30pm.