A NORTH Durham playwright and actor will take an on-stage role as his latest comedy is performed at a popular arts festival.

Alan Godfrey, of Leadgate, Consett, will appear in A Nasty Little Play, one of three dark comedies he has written recently, when it is presented at the Buxton Fringe festival in Derbyshire this week.

Four performances are planned at the festival, which runs until Sunday (July 26).

Mr Godfrey is better known as a publisher of historical maps but previously worked in the theatre business.

The play is set in 1950s Soho in a sleazy bookshop during a police raid and the laughter dies away as the mood darkens.

The six-strong cast are all members of the Durham Dramatic Society but the Buxton venture is an independent trip, organised by Chris Neville-Smith, who has taken plays to the festival for the last two years - including one of his own.

The show was recently performed at the Old Church in Sacriston.