A Shirley Valentine for our town

TWO LITTLE DICKIE BIRDS

(Oldham Library, to Saturday)

ALTHOUGH Oldham Library's rather compromised performance space normally plays host to children's shows and talks, for which it is eminently suited, here it gets the regional premiere of a comic drama with determinedly local involvement and serious purpose.

The founder of new company BritTheatre is David Benson, who cut his design teeth building sets for the Lyceum Players years ago and today has a professional set design career.

And while BritTheatre's one-woman first play is acted principally by Manchester actress Jo Dakin, it opened last night with local actress Roz Hendren (who appears again at the matinee on Saturday), and has been written by David with Jon Clay and Mandy Hester - both former alumni of Oldham Theatre Workshop.

Two Little Dickie Birds could be said to be the Oldham Shirley Valentine, but where the original's ending was rather bittersweet, this has more of a feel-good factor.

But then it needs one: lonely heroine, sole character and pub landlady, middle-aged Pauline, is decidedly unlucky in love and counts a bunch of pub soaks and an ageing swinger and pub cleaner as friends. The first half reveals her general unhappiness in a series of well-timed scenes (courtesy of director Jeffrey Longmore) and we sympathise.

When a violent act gives way to a fire and the loss of a loved one and her home and belongings, Pauline flies off on holiday to Brazil and says goodbye to her dearest friend... and meets a new partner.

It's all rather predictable - you find love when you stop looking for it - but enjoyable nonetheless, partly because Benson has gone into enormous detail with his set, a sort of showcase for what can be done in a small space with revolving this and moving that, backdrop projections and much else besides (in fact, scene changes take a little longer than they might at times).

Roz Hendren hasn't had a lot of stage experience at this level - she is on stage throughout the 100-plus minutes and occasionally seems to be reciting rather than acting; she's a little too deliberate, but is nonetheless endearing.

The whole thing is a lesson in what you can achieve on a shoestring budget.