IF VARIETY is the spice of life then Ilkley Players are serving up a veritable Vindaloo in the next few months.

The first genre on offer is the French farce Ding Dong from writer Marc Camoletti.

Ian Wilson has combined forces with Denise MacGregor to direct an experienced cast in this timeless comedy of sex and betrayal.

We meet Bernard who has discovered that his wife, Jacqueline, is having an affair with Robert.

Being a reasonable businessman, Bernard gives Robert two options to compensate for the affair: either he will sleep with Robert’s wife in order to keep things even, or he will have him killed.

Needless to say, Robert chooses to let Bernard sleep with his wife.

Scheming to woo her, Bernard arranges an evening meal with both couples present — much to the frustration of their overworked and underpaid maid, Marie-Louise.

However, instead of bringing his wife to the dinner, Robert pays Barbara, a call girl, to pose as his wife for the evening.

Meanwhile, Jacqueline does not know that Bernard has found out about her affair, and is stunned to learn that their dinner guests are in fact her lover and, supposedly, his wife.

The situation then becomes even more hilarious and confusing when Robert’s actual wife, Juliette, turns up for dinner.

This is a light-hearted French bedroom farce at its best – don’t miss it from April 29 until May 3 at 7.30pm and matinée only on May 2.

By way of a complete contrast — from May 19 the Wildman Studio will be transformed into the venue for T.S. Eliot’s verse dramatisation of the murder of Thomas Becket, Murder in the Cathedral.

Directed by Sue Garnett this play was written for the Canterbury Festival of 1935 and won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Based on the murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury and dealing with faith, politics and the common good, this work bolstered Eliot’s reputation as the most significant poet of his time.

Running for 5 nights only, tickets £9.50/£8.50, are on sale now.

The next Fleapit Cinema is screening The Imitation Game on Sunday, May 3 at 2pm.

A sell-out at the Ilkley Film Festival earlier this year, here is another opportunity to catch this Oscar-nominated 2014 movie starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, rated PG 13.

Tickets £5 to include tea and cake in the interval and can be booked online.

Junior Fleapit will be starting in September, so if you are a parent (grand, step variety included) and need to occupy the younger members of your family on a Saturday afternoon…watch this space.

Visit ilkleyplayhouse.co.uk or telephone 01943 609539 for more.