Claire Evans writes for the Herald.

The Manor Pavilion welcomed back Paul Taylor-Mills for the popular annual launch of the Summer Play Festival on the evening of Monday, June 3.

The very well-supported and free event offered everyone attending a glass of wine to enjoy while Paul and his Season Producer, Andrew Beckett, outlined the plays they will be presenting this summer.

Paul said that the annual twelve-week Festival was an opportunity to present a range of classic thrillers, comedies, farces and dramas.

He was delighted that this year had seen the largest box office advance in the eleven years he had been producing the Season and this boded well for the future of both the Festival and theatre in general.

The first three plays in the Season are Francis Durbridge’s thriller House Guest, Noel Coward’s Hayfever and American Broadway hit psychological thriller Perfect Crime by Warren Manzi.

Andrew Beckett will be directing the opening play, House Guest, and said he was excited to be working on this “Whydunnit” set in the house of Hollywood couple, Robert and Stella, whose son has been kidnapped to force them to allow one of the kidnappers to stay in their home, which is just the start of his highly charged thriller.

Actor Dominic McChesney, who was born and brought up locally in Seaton, joined Producers and actor James Pellow on stage to talk about his experience as an actor in the Festival.

Dominic said, “I first joined the Company at the Manor Pavilion in 2019, when a fellow actor and friend who was in The King's Speech called me and said, "Do you think you could play a 65-year-old Winston Churchill?" I said, "I'll give it a shot!" and, luckily, I think I must have been acceptable.” Favourite plays of Dominic in previous Seasons include Peter Quilter’s Glorious! and The Business of Murder.

He is looking forward to playing David Bliss in Hayfever, a delicious confection of a subversive comedy from 1925. Dominic can also be seen in the gritty modern thriller Looking Good Dead and playing Sidney Bruhl in Ira Levin’s Deathtrap. “Right at the end of the Season I am playing Edward T Chesterfield in Patrick Barlow’s comedy Ben Hur in which four actors take on the might of the Roman Empire. I can't say much at this point, but it is a brilliantly funny show, and I am going to end up very, very wet if the script is anything to go by. Like The 39 Steps, it is a mad, fast-paced multi role show.”

The first play Dominic was taken to see at the Manor Pavilion was Silver Wedding when he was seven years old. Becoming a regular member of the Company is a dream realised and he is looking forward to getting started.

Booking is already open for 12-week Season and full details of all the plays in the Festival are on the Manor Pavilion website.