The Summer Play Festival at the Manor Pavilion will be opening for its annual '12 plays in 12 weeks' season on Monday, June 24 with Francis Durbridge’s thriller House Guest.

Favourite and doyen of the Play Festival, James Pellow, will be notching up his 20th season, having started in 2004 when Charles Vance was producing.

James told me: “One question Charles asked me at the audition was 'Can you learn the lines?' I said 'yes', as confidently as I could, and got the job. The question was a crucial one of course because, each week, we'd be rehearsing one play in the daytime whilst performing another in the evening. Keeps you on your toes, especially if this week it's a tense drama and next week it's a farce! I'm so thankful to Charles and, over the last 10 years, to Paul Taylor Mills, for the opportunity to do so many plays - more than many actors would do in a lifetime!”

The Manor Pavilion can boast that it hosts the very last season based on the Weekly Rep model. While there are other summer seasons of plays in other seaside towns, Sidmouth is the only place you can see a different play each week across three months.

James said: “I'm especially looking forward to Yes, Prime Minister- playing Sir Humphrey Appleby. How I'll cope with stepping into Nigel Hawthorne's shoes, is anyone's guess. Another one I'm looking forward to is Terence Rattigan's delightful wartime comedy While The Sun Shines.”

In advance of the cornucopia of theatre in the Play Festival, James returns to the Manor Pavilion to present his latest play, Sylvia, Little Peach in the White Sandals, on Saturday 25 May. It is about two estranged brothers, Arnold & Barry, who are living separate lives, in contrasting bedsits. A television researcher is questioning single people living in bedsits, and, in the first half, hard-nosed Arnold recounts his version of the bittersweet events that have brought him to where he is now. In the second half, sunny-natured Barry (a bit of a dreamer) tells it from his side.

This will be James’s fifth one-person play to be premiered at the Manor Pavilion. James said: “A huge inspiration for all of this has been Alan Bennett, and his wonderful Talking Heads monologues. I've been so fortunate in having the support of The Manor Pavilion Theatre over the years, encouraging and giving me the opportunity to present new work.”

All profits from ticket sales will be donated to Sidmouth Hospice at Home.

Full details of all the plays in the Festival are on the Manor Pavilion website, and on Monday 3 June there will be a convivial launch of the Season. Entrance is free, but must be booked, and includes a glass of wine. It is an opportunity to hear producer Paul Taylor-Mills talk about the plays being presented this year.

For more information visit https://manorpavilion.com/whats-on and to book tickets, visit the website or call the box office on 01395 514 413