Noel Coward’s classic comedy Private Lives is to be staged in Runcorn with a new twist.

Newly formed group Consensus Touring Theatre will present the play at The Brindley on Friday, September 13, at 7.30pm.

The play concerns a divorced couple who go on honeymoon with their new spouses only to find, to their horror, their former spouses are staying in the same hotel – in the next bedroom.

It was first performed in 1931, with Coward starring in it himself, alongside Gertrude Lawrence. Later productions have involved such stars as Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Vivien Leigh and Lawrence Oliver.

Consensus Touring Theatre has been started by a number of experienced amateur actors and is an experimental group in that, instead of having a sole director taking the helm, the members of the cast all share the directing role.

Founder member Philip Wade said: “Our ethos is to break away and steer to a new principle so that all involved have a role in enriching and embellishing as we go along.

“This principle, we feel, has not only been feasible but very refreshing to us as performers.”

Tickets on 0151 907 8360 or via www.thebrindley.org.uk.