Ellesmere Port’s fifth annual Writers’ Ball event will give visitors a chance to enjoy 20 short, innovative performances from many of the best local writers, actors and performers, all under one roof.

Held on Thursday, March 30, from 7.30pm, the Writers’ Ball will give guests the opportunity to explore the many quirky rooms of Whitby Hall, the Victorian manor house in the middle of Whitby Park.

Within each room, visitors will discover short plays, poetry, music, comedy and spoken word from North West-based artists and performers.

This year’s lineup includes Four Shadows Theatre, who specialise in making ambitious performances in ‘non-traditional’ spaces.

Joining them will be Manchester company Powder Keg Theatre, who won 2016’s Royal Exchange Theatre’s Hodgkiss award.

A scene from Naughty Corner Productions The Bastard Queen

Paperfinch Theatre, whose Christmas production of The Nutcracker at Theatr Clwyd in Mold was described in the Times as ‘remarkably inventive’, will join the bill, as well as Action Transport Theatre’s own Young Writers group.

Ellesmere Port director Mike Dickinson will be making a return to the Writers’ Ball with Naughty Corner Productions, who will be performing extracts from two new plays, The British Idles and black comedy Church Blitz.

On top of all that there’s a hot buffet and a glass of wine included with each ticket.

Tickets are £12 (£10 concessions) and are available from www.actiontransporttheatre.org , boxoffice@actiontransporttheatre.org or 0151 357 2120.