ACTOR Simon Williams, famed for his TV role in Upstairs Downstairs, hopes to attend the first night of the opening play at this year s Charles Vance Summer Play Festival at Sidmouth.

ACTOR Simon Williams, famed for his TV role in Upstairs Downstairs, hopes to attend the first night of the opening play at this year's Charles Vance Summer Play Festival at Sidmouth.

The play, a light-hearted comedy The Flip Side, written by his parents, Hugh and Margaret Williams, launches the 24th Charles Vance season at the Manor Pavilion Theatre.

Things don't quite go as he expected when publisher Julian and his pretty young wife entertain author Theo and his pretty young wife for the weekend.

The Festival Season box office opens on Tuesday, June 1, and the Sidmouth Herald is again pleased to sponsor the Festival season ticket for local residents.

Charles and Imogen Vance have put together a wide-ranging programme of plays, covering the usual great mix of farce, thriller, comedy and drama, to entertain and please all audiences.

The second offering is Table Manners, one of the ever-popular and hysterical Norman Conquests by Alan Ayckbourn, where Norman continues to create mayhem within the family.

The third production of the season is an enigmatic thriller by Pauline Macaulay, where a man seeks his lost and missing childhood.

Also included in the festival this year are well known titles such as Five Finger Exercise, Plaza Suite, Sweet Revenge and Charley's Aunt. The season concludes with a brand new play Sudden Deaths, by prolific TV author Jeremy Swann, an unusual tale of the unexpected right on our doorstep!

Returning again this season, to compliment new members of the company, are Kirsty Cox, Michael Mitcham and Adam Trembath, together with seasoned regulars Jane Bennett, Janette Froud, John Elnaugh and James Pellow.

Popular local actors Janet Farrow, Henry Gooding and Ray Pickworth will appear in some productions.

This is simply a taster of what is on offer to delight audiences this summer, and full details are available from The Manor Pavilion Theatre in Sidmouth and all local libraries and tourist information centres.

Ticket prices remain at �11 and �12 this year and by completing the form printed in the Sidmouth Herald this week you can take advantage of the special offer of the season ticket and get the first 12 plays for the price of 10.

The Festival box office is open from June 1(10am-5pm). Tel: (01395) 579977.