A production based on a 'lost' Shakespeare play, Crude Apache's staging of Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood and a stage adaptation of 1970s TV sitcom Up Pompeii are among events heading to local stages this month.

DOUBLE FALSEHOOD

Maddermarket Theatre, March 17-26, �12-�8, 01603 620917, www.maddermarket.co.uk

Just a year after its inclusion into the Shakespearean canon, the Maddermarket will become the first to have per-formed all of Shakespeare's known published plays under the auspices of one production company – The Norwich Players - when it performs Double Falsehood.

Double Falsehood emerged in its current form in 1727, when theatrical impresario Lewis Theobald claimed to have three copies of a 'lost' play by Shakespeare — which had formerly been known as The History of Cardenio — from which he compiled Double Falsehood.

The newly acknowledged play is based upon the story of Cardenio that forms part of Cervantes' Don Quixote, and was probably written by Shakespeare in collaboration with John Fletcher, who had also written Henry VIII and Two Noble Kinsmen with The Bard.

Set up in 1911 by Walter Nugent Monck, and moving to the Maddermarket Theatre in 1921, the Norwich Players became the first company in the world to stage all of Shakespeare's plays under one producer, with the perform-ances in 1933 of Henry VI, parts I, II and III.

UP POMPEII

Marina Theatre, Lowestoft, March 17-19, �18.50 (�17.50 cons), 01502 533200, www.marinatheatre.co.uk

The popular 1970s BBC sitcom that starred Frankie Howerd makes its first appearance as a stage comedy by Miles Tredinnick complete with its outrageous characters originally created by Carry On stalwart Talbot Rothwell and Sid Colin.

Marina Theatre favourite Damian Williams stars as household slave Lurcio who is ordered by his master Ludicrus Sextus into covering up an amorous visit by the shapely Suspenda (the well known nymphomaniac and beauty) only for all kinds of difficulties to arise.

Firstly gorgeous slave girl Voluptua, on the run from the evil Captain Treacherus and his thug sidekick Kretinus, unexpectedly arrives at the villa and asks Lurcio to hide her. Suspenda tries to devour Ludicrus and an anxious Lurcio attempts to control things with special potions, cross-dressing and blackmail.

With familiar and much loved Up Pompeii favourites such as Senna the Soothsayer on hand (Nay, Nay and thrice Nay!), the comedy soon turns into a Roman farce with some of the jokes as old as Rome itself.

www.brucejamesproductions.co.uk

UNDER MILK WOOD

Dragon Hall, March 22-26, �7 (�5 cons), 01603 663922, www.dragonhall.org

Crude Apache present Dylan Thomas' lyrical masterpiece in the atmospheric setting of Dragon Hall for five nights from March 22.

Seven actors bring to life the many colourful and eccentric characters in a day in the life of the small Welsh seaside town of Llaregub. The narrators describe the village and its many quirky inhabitants, guiding us through their daily lives from before sunrise through a 24 hour cycle.

Crude Apache began in 1993 when a group of friends performed A Midsummer Night's Dream as a birthday treat for Bruce Lacey, a Norfolk eccentric who has appeared in Beatles films and worked with Spike Milligan. The group has since grown into a community-based, non-professional company committed to making low-cost, accessible theatre.

Under Milk Wood is directed by Jo Edye and aims to make the most of the superb space in medieval merchant's house. The show will feature a live band, original music by Jo Worley and enhanced soundscapes by Chris Bond.

www.crudeapache.wordpress.com