QUEEN of the British Music Hall Marie Lloyd is celebrated in a performance at the Maltings Arts Theatre in St Albans next week. Elizabeth Mansfield, who was nominated for an Olivier award as Best Actress in a Musical when she played Marie Lloyd in the Wes

QUEEN of the British Music Hall Marie Lloyd is celebrated in a performance at the Maltings Arts Theatre in St Albans next week.

Elizabeth Mansfield, who was nominated for an Olivier award as Best Actress in a Musical when she played Marie Lloyd in the West End show, is reprising the role in St Albans at 8pm on Wednesday, November 18.

The show takes the audience on a journey through Marie Lloyd's extraordinary life, rediscovering the narratives in her songs and weaving them through her story. It gives an insight into the late Victorian and Edwardian eras where her saucy material challenged the hypocrisy of those who tried to bar her from the halls.

It features songs including Don't Dilly Dally on the Way and The Boy I Love is Up in the Gallery.

Tickets are �12 with concessions �10, available from the box office on 01727 844222.

An even earlier period comes under the spotlight at 8pm next Thursday, November 19, with a performance of Austen's Women which constitutes a bold revisiting of the souls of Emma Woodhouse, Lizzie Bennet, Mrs Norris, Miss Bates and many more besides.

It is intended to demonstrate how much things have changed for women since then and taken out of context - and in the absence of men - the women speak volumes for their sex and their standing constrained by the code of the time.

The show, which is co-written and directed by Maltings Arts Theatre favourite Guy Masterson, brings to the stage a selection of the most rewarding and exciting moments in the work of Jane Austen

Tickets are �12 with concessions �10.

A Sam Shepard double bill can be seen at the theatre next Friday and Saturday evening, November 20 and 21, presented by Peppermint Muse Theatre Company.

Cowboy Mouth, directed by Lisa White, is a surreal comedy which finds Cavale, a temptress on a mission, who has kidnapped Slim to turn him into a rock'n'roll star until they fall in love.

Fool for Love, directed by Stephen Cunningham, is set in a desolate motel room on the edge of the Mojave Desert where May and Eddie's disturbing 15-year cycle of passion and abandonment unravels against a backdrop of dark humour.

Performances get underway at 8pm and tickets are �12 with concessions �10.