BLACKBURN Drama Club is staging one of its most ambitious productions to date which promised laugh out loud entertainment for theatregoers.

Alan Ayckbourn's A Chorus of Disapproval is running until Saturday at the Thwaites Empire Theatre at Ewood and has already proved to be a hugely entertaining evening.

The story revolves around a lonely widower who joins a local amateur operatic society to bring some excitement into his life.

Because he never refuses to do anything he goes from a member of the chorus to taking a lead role in The Beggar's Opera.

The play concentrates on the rehearsals for the show with amusing results.

The production is being directed by Dorothy Perkins who said: "This play has been a real challenge for the club with its large cast and many costumer changes.

"But as usual the club has risen to the occasion.

"It is not often audiences have the chance to watch two plays in one night."

The production's large cast includes regular Drama Club favourites Steven Derbyshire, Jacqui Mooney and Muriel Eccles.

A Chorus of Disapproval may also be familiar to cinemagoers having been made into a movie by director Michael Winner with an all-star cast including Jeremy Irons, Prunella Scales, Richard Briers and Patsy Kensit.

The production this week at the Thwaites Theatre is the club's last of the current season but theatre goers have been given a sneak preview of what they can expect in the autumn as Blackburn Drama Club has revealed it will be putting on Mike Harding's comedy Fur Coat and No Knickers and the classic Lancashire tale Hobson's Choice in the autumn.

A Chorus of Disapproval, performed by Blackburn Drama Club, Thwaites Empire Theatre, Ewood, until Saturday, May 20 at 7.30pm. Details from the box office on 01254 680137