Two days of music and drama, featuring original and local theatrical productions takes place next weekend.

Theatrefest’19 will see two nights of unique theatre, with each play being written and produced on-island and performed with a completely local cast.

The festival takes place at the Studio Theatre, Ballakermeen High School on Friday and Saturday, October 4 and 5, with two plays performed each night.

The Friday night will see the premier of ’Purga Tree’, written by Mike Bonner, the winning entry of the 2018 screenplay competition run by the Isle of Man Arts Council.

The play is described as a ’gripping supernatural drama which explores the ideas of faith versus belief and the variations of what we see as "the in between",’ and promises to have the audience on the edge of their seat.

The cast features Lisa Creighton, Abbie Williams,

Paul Sellors, Toby Smith, Neil Callin and Niamh Murdoch.

Also on the Friday night will by the festival devised play, entitled ’Identity’.

This is directed by London-based producer John Wright, and will see an as-yet unknown cast create and perform a play over the space of a week in the run up to the festival.

The process to create the devised play begins on Saturday, with rehearsals taking place at the Studio Theatre.

Anyone who would like to take part must turn up to register at 10am on Saturday morning.

More details are available by emailing [email protected]

The Saturday night will see a musical, written by local composer Pat Cullen and set during the TT in the 1950s.

’The Mechanic’ stars Alex Maxwell, Dandi Dancox, Isaac Murtagh and Hannah Clinton, and is described as a love story centred around friendship and family.

This will be followed by an inventive musical, ’M is for Manx Cat’ set around the children’s book, created by writer Gemma Hjerth and artist Kim Gee.

Theatrefest is organised by Lisa Kreisky and Kristene Sutcliffe, from Stagedoor Entertainment, and is the fifth time the festival has taken place.

’I am really excited about this year’s Theatrefest, even though it is a bit bonkers this year,’ said Lisa.

’I can’t imagine where else you would find such a mix of theatre as this year’s festival.

’The aim of Theatrefest is to promote new work for the theatre and make it accessible to all and we are so grateful to the Isle of Man Arts Council for their continued support.’

Tickets for Theatrefest are £10 per night for adults and £8 for children, with a 25% discount on tickets bought for both nights, available online from thestudiotheatre.im