Northern Broadsides, York Theatre Royal

Cleckleywyke, a town in the West Riding, 1908.

The Helliwells, the Parkers and the Soppitts are highly respected pillars of their community but not for much longer. Married on the same day in the same chapel, they gather to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.

The celebrations are short lived when they discover the vicar wasn’t licensed and they are actually not married. In fact, they have been living in sin for 25 years.

Watch with mounting glee as the pandemonium switches from horrified social embarrassment to the realisation that they are free from the shackles of long tedious marriages. Home truths are dealt, bullies get their retribution and the hen-pecked are hilariously and most satisfyingly liberated.

J B Priestley’s heartily entertaining northern comedy plays right into the hands of the remarkable Northern Broadsides, a company celebrated by audiences for its charisma, vitality and relish of language.

Suitable for ages 10 and over.