THE Thurrock Courts Players are back with another comedy for February.

The popular society will be taking over the Thameside Theatre between Thursday 6 and Saturday, February 8.

Fresh from performing Rumours in October, the production this time round is the hilarious farce Love Begins at 50.

From a large pool of actors, Gary Patmore has been selected to take on the lead role of Clive, a character “trapped” in a 28-year, loveless marriage as he approaches his 50th birthday.

Convinced life is passing him by and yearning for a final fling before the landmark birthday, Clive arranges to entertain three ladies he finds in the lonely hearts column of the local paper.

Ironically, the same paper is running a competition to find the “Most Happily Married Couple” – and Clive’s wife has entered them without his knowledge.

When a press photographer pays them a surprise visit on the very night of Clive’s little indiscretions and mistakes his date for his wife, confusion and deceit inevitably ensue in this romantic comedy of errors.

Directed by Martyn Williams, this play, written in the early 90s by Raymond Hopkins, will be the first of the courts players’ 2014 programme.

Michael Mcfarlane, Jill Snelling, Pauline Crowhurst, Anna Catchpole, Erin Bushnell, Madeleine Emmerson, Jenny Lee and society chairman Vic Gray also star.

Tickets for the show cost between £8 and £10, with a special Saturday matinee performance priced at only £7 per ticket.

To book, call the theatre box office on 0845 300 5264 or email thurrockcourtsplayers@live.co.uk.