Dominic ChessumA Norfolk amateur dramatics group is celebrating six decades of treading the boards by staging a comedy which, it says, will have 'em rolling in the aisles.Dominic Chessum

A Norfolk amateur dramatics group is celebrating six decades of treading the boards by staging a comedy which, it says, will have 'em rolling in the aisles.

Wayland Players start a three-night run of Don't Dress for Dinner on Thursday April 23.

The production, billed as a hilarious comedy of double adultery and gourmet cooking, is set to have ticket-holders cramming into the Queens Hall in the town.

David Taylor, of the Players, said: 'We chose it because it was extremely funny when we did the play read-through. It had us all laughing from just reading the script.'

Don't Dress for Dinner is just the latest in a catalogue of plays and shows that stretches back 60 years - and the history of am-dram in Watton goes back much further than the Wayland Players.

It is believed there was a group called The Wayland Dramatic Society in the 1890s and also a travelling band of actors called The Curtis Players. In 1926 the Watton Players were formed, and the company staged plays until the start of the second world war.

Wayland Players were formed in 1949 after the town Young Conservatives staged a one-off performance of the play, Quiet Weekend, in Barnham's Sale Room. More plays followed, and the Players soon moved into the larger venue of Coronation Hall, later to become Queens Hall.

Over the decades the troupe has grown and grown, and it now enjoys the regular support of more than 200 local people as well as having more than 50 acting members

Mr Taylor said: 'It is a huge amount of fun and there is a lot of camaraderie. You do get a huge buzz out of it.'

Tickets for Don't Dress for Dinner are still available by calling 01953 881248 or calling into Adcocks, in High Street. For more information about the Players go to www.waylandplayers.org.uk