Having missed this programme of two one-act plays when the Pepperpots staged it at Niton earlier in the year, I was eager to enjoy the fun this time round as they brought their talents to Shanklin Theatre – and I wasn’t disappointed.

The first play, ‘Dirty Business’ introduced us to two cleaning ladies, Angela and Josie, who are facing the possibility of redundancy after council cuts have been announced. Chrissie Blow was hilarious as Josie, finding piece after piece of apparent evidence of the philandering of Roger Beasley, whose office they cleaned. Chris Turvey as Angela provided a no-nonsense foil to her more ebullient partner, but the ladies’ joy is equal when they decide they have enough information to blackmail Roger into keeping them on. We then meet Roger himself, played by Kevin Wilson with aplomb, but as he begins to clarify the real circumstances of the discarded photo in the bin and its message, we wonder whether the girls are on the right track… an unexpected injury however plays into their hands – all they have to do is get Roger to sign letters demanding they keep their jobs and all will be well. The outcome is not what we have been led to expect – a nice twist in the tale.

After the interval we settled back down to enjoy ‘White Lies’. Kevin Wilson reappeared, this time as a put-upon waiter, supporting the main cast of four ladies: university friends meeting up for the first time in 30 years. The play is not a good advertisement for reuniting with past friends, but provided laughs as we met Bea, whose life plan since youth appears to have been to acquire money in any way possible. Chris Turvey’s performance as Bea contrasted well with her character in the first play: Bea is insufferable, and quickly irritates her former university mates as she ridicules Ruth’s university boyfriend – Julie Stonestreet as Ruth relishes her reply: ‘We celebrated our 25^th wedding anniversary last year’. The anxious Judith, played engagingly by Lorna Wilson, is devastated to discover that the love of her life who committed suicide had also been among Bea’s romantic conquests, while Bea is shocked and disgusted to find out that her friend Pam has spent time in jail. Pam – a lovely comic turn by Jenny Manning – is unrepentant and can’t quite remember being as close to Bea as the latter claims….. so when the chance arises to play a practical joke on Bea, the rest of the girls agree to take it – after all, what could go wrong? Plenty, as the denouement shows.

The Pepperpot Players have been entertaining Island audiences since 1972, first as Niton Drama Group and later under their current name: they and director Nick Turvey can be proud of their latest production – I’m now looking forward to the next one.