PROLIFIC Tyneside playwright Tom Kelly will see five of his short plays created at the Customs House, South Shields, South Tyneside, next month - all of which deal with the theme of love.

The collection, called Love in NE32, is set in and around Kelly's birthplace of Jarrow and follows up his last themed production at the Customs House, called Secrets, which was part of the February Drama festival.

The plays are: Hope Street, about an eight-year boy; The Machines, involving a young man obsessed with playing one-armed bandits; Elsie, set in a Jarrow Residential Home; Crying In The Night, about a young single mother and Angel Of The North, featuring an elderly couple.

The season opens on Wednesday, September 11, and runs until Saturday, September 14 at 7.30pm. There will be matinee performances on Wednesday and Thursday, at 2.30pm.

Tickets cost £7 or £5 concessions and are available from the box office on 0191-454 1234.

Other productions at the Customs House include:

* Tartuffe, Moliere's comedy classic, will be performed on Friday, September 6, by the NTC Touring Theatre Company.

* Tyneside writer and poet Peter Mortimer will be appearing on Saturday, September 7, to talk about his experiences while writing his book 100 Days on Holy Island.

* Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, will be shown on Friday, September 20.