A UNIQUE theatre challenge is being undertaken by a local actor as part of the St Albans Festival.

Kieran Cummins is appearing in five performances over three days as OVO, the St Albans-based drama company, puts on its own summer festival of theatre in conjunction with the city’s arts festival.

Kieran’s trio of performances provide some interesting dramatic contrasts. He starts as Martello, a sculptor in his twilight years, in Artist Descending A Staircase, Tom Stoppard’s seminal radio play examining the nature of art.

He will then metamorphose into Brian, the slightly slimy, holier-than-thou coarse actor in Playing Faustus, a new play by Imogen de la Besre.

Finally he takes a total of six roles, ranging from a cheeky eight-year-old boy to a flatulent grandma, in Shona McCarthy’s poignant tale of the decline of Galway’s old Claddagh seafaring community in the 1930s, Married to the Sea.

Kieran was born in St Albans and has been acting since his school days at Nicholas Breakspear where he was given a day release to the Watford Palace Thatre. He has an acting diploma from Mountview Theatre School in London and a wide range of credits for local companies.

A veteran of six previous OVO productions, he is relishing the task ahead: “I recently made my first appearances nude in Ray Cooney’s Out of Order and on crutches as Long John Silver in Treasure Island. However, as theatre challenges go, this definitely tops them all.”

The OVO summer festival of theatre will culminate later in June with a new musical production of All’s Well That Ends Well set in 1950s France – but Kieran will be sitting that one out.

The OVO festival runs from next Thursday, June 10, until June 25, at OVO @ Pudding Lane, 29a Chequer Street, St Albans. Performances start at 8pm nightly and tickets priced �10 or �5 concessions are available from the box office on 07807 521436 or online at www.ovo.org.uk