High Street Players return to Katherine Warington School in Harpenden next week to perform a comedy by Alan Ayckbourn.

There will be four performances of Confusions by the Harpenden amateur drama group at the school in Lower Luton Road from Friday, July 9 to Sunday, July 11.

Confusions consists of a series of interconnected one-act plays.

Human frailty is laid bare as each play deals riotously, but with sharply pointed undertones, with human eccentricities and the dilemma of loneliness.

There's a mother unable to escape from baby talk, an utterly shambolic fete, a fraught dinner encounter, and the final play set in a park, where five strangers, each with their own troubles, look for a listening ear.

The cast have had great fun rehearsing and playing multiple parts.

But COVID-19 restrictions have presented challenges, with initial rehearsals beginning on Zoom, then moving outdoors before six people were allowed to meet indoors in mid-May.

The plays are ideal for the current situation, as there are small numbers in each play.

Mike Lees directs two of the plays, while Margaret Cox directs the other two and also acts in two!

Margaret describes Confusions as: “Six actors take on 18 roles in four one-act plays in a bygone era with issues as current as ever!”

Mike says of rehearsals: ”It’s been really exciting to see the cast grow into the various characters in the play – we hope the audience get as much fun from seeing the plays as we are having in rehearsing them.”

High Street Players have stayed connected throughout the pandemic with weekly Zoom play readings and staged a production of 'A Doll’s House' by Henrik Ibsen last September.

Audience feedback was very positive with people really enjoying live theatre again at a local venue and reported feeling safe.

There will be four performances of Confusions – on Friday, July 9 at 7.30pm, on Saturday, July 10 at 2.30pm and 7.30pm, and on Sunday, July 11 at 2.30pm.

Tickets are £10 available from www.ticketsource.co.uk/hsplayers or by calling 01582 766096.

Current guidelines mean face masks must be worn.

For more on High Street Players' COVID-19 precautions, visit hsplayers.org.uk/covid-19-precautions/