HAVE you ever wondered goes on behind the scenes of East Lancashire's top amateur dramatic productions? JENNY SCOTT joins the Oswaldtwistle Players in the build-up to their performance of their latest comedy A Night On The Tiles. . .

THE Oswaldtwistle Players turned up for their latest performance complete with newly recorded sound effects - only to discover the rehearsal rooms were locked.

Gayle Knight, who is in charge of sound effects, explained: "We all went to the Straits pub at 7pm on Wednesday night, but discovered it was closed until 8pm!

"The whole cast ended up round at my house, in the living room.

"Unfortunately, we couldn't use the sound effects because I was trying to get my children to go to bed.

"I think they might have been a bit worried if they'd heard some of the sounds coming up the stairs!"

Certainly, some of the effects Gayle has been asked to collect are a little odd, to say the least.

"One of the main features on stage is the toilet," said Gayle. "It's in a little outhouse on the stage and it's where a lot of the characters go to reflect on things."

And so Gayle's job has seen her hanging around her bathroom with a tape recorder to ensure the sound effects are suitably authentic.

"It's just the sound of the flush - nothing else, thank goodness!" she laughed.

However, the unexpected closure of the rehearsal room meant the Players' sound effects read-through has had to be set back a week.

Gayle said: "It's not that it's a huge disaster, but if it's left too late and the cast haven't rehearsed with the sound effects, they are completely thrown by them."

Ridley classic is a ghostly tale

THE Rossendale Players' 69th season opens with Arnold Ridley's classic comedy/thriller The Ghost Train.

The play is set in a remote Cornish railway station in the 1920s where a group of passengers are stranded on a stormy night.

While they are there, the elderly station master relates the local legend of the nightly appearance of the ghostly speeding train - a harbinger of death to anyone who saw it.

The play runs at the New Millennium Theatre, Burnley Road East, Waterfoot, from Saturday, September 25-October 2.

For tickets (costing £5, concessions £4, except Saturday 2) call (01706) 228720.

AUDITIONS for principal roles in Pendle Opera's next production - The Pearl Fishers - will be held at Brierfield Methodist Church on Thursday. The group would welcome new members for all voice parts. Audition pieces are available from Sylvia Foster on (01282) 772941.

BLACKBURN Drama Club presents Playhouse Creatures between Wednesday, October 6 and Saturday, October 9 at the Thwaites Empire Theatre. Tickets, costing £6, are available on 680137.

THE Darwen Library Players present The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society's production of A Christmas Carol on November 26 and November 27 at the Darwen Library Theatre.

THANKS For The Memories - a tribute to Stan Tate at the Thwaites Theatre, Blackburn, on September 10 and 11 - has nearly sold out. Anyone coming to see the show - a celebration of the man who worked tirelessly for Blackburn Amateurs and Blackburn Operatics - should arrive for 7.20pm to catch the pre-show entertainment.