AUDIENCES are being commanded to fall off their chairs laughing when Dorchester Drama launches into its spring production next week.

“They had better laugh, or I’ll lock them in the hall until they do!” threatened Peter Wheeler, one of the directors of C’s The Moment.

The evening of entertainment is made up of three playlets, all of which are described by Peter as ‘uproariously funny’.

Comedienne, by John Reason, is directed by Trevor Williams and is a bittersweet look at the lives of a group of fading actresses in a retirement home.

Coxcomb, by Alan Melville and directed by peter Wheeler, is a very unusual take on a Restoration comedy and Clematis, also directed by Peter, is an anarchic slice of theatre that will have the audience in stitches.

“Clematis is a domestic drama set in a suburban dining room in the pre-war years. The cast acts it out perfectly and just when everyone thinks it’s over, two people stand up in the audience and shout that it was appalling and that they could do it better.

“They can’t of course and it descends into complete chaos.”

Peter added: “The plays are all totally different and the evening as a whole is something new for us.

“Comedienne is a bittersweet and quite gentle tale, but the other two are much more uproarious.”

The cast of the three plays is made up of Dorchester Drama regulars including Lee Stroud, Sam Kelly and Ann Ottaway.

Dorchester Drama’s next productions will be Joan Of Arc this summer and Guards! Guards! in the autumn.

C’s The Moment is at the Holy Trinity Centre, Culliford Road, Dorchester, at 7.30pm on Wednesday, March 30 and Friday and Saturday, April 1 and 2. Tickets cost £8 in advance, £9 on the door from Words Etcetera in Cornhill, Dorchester, or by phone from 01305 257694.