The Easter Festival of Plays is celebrating its 75th anniversary with a bumper set of performances.

The festival will begin on Saturday, April 19 with a total of 13 plays performed over seven days, including the first ever musical.

For the first time there will be afternoon performances on the first Saturday and on Easter Sunday which will be one-act plays performed by island teams.

Organiser Michael Lees said: ‘This is our 75th anniversary year and we are delighted that the response to our invitation to teams from both the island and the UK has been the best ever.’

The full-length play festival will begin on Easter Monday evening with a performance of comedy ‘Blythe Spirit’ written by Noel Coward and performed by The Wellington Theatre Company.

Last year's winners, White Cobra Productions from Northamptonshire will perform ‘Our Man In Havana’ on Tuesday evening - a very well-known comedy/espionage play written by Graham Greene.

The Keyhole Theatre company from Liverpool will perform ‘O’Brien’s Dream’ on Wednesday which is a musical journey of love and hope written by Bill Morrison with the music written by Frankie Connor from Radio Merseyside.

On the Thursday, Full Circle Theatre company from Essex present ‘Hansard’ by Simon Woods with political secrets and marital spats in this sharp comedy.

The final evening is Friday, April 25 when well-known team Garden Suburb Theatre from London present ‘Holding the Man’ by Tommy Murphy.

On Sunday evening after the one-act plays and after Friday night's play, adjudicator Robert Meadows will talk about the plays seen all week and announce the winning teams. His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor Sir John Lorimer will present the awards on both evenings.

There will also be the usual Easter Monday lunch at the Empress Hotel. Tickets are available by contacting Mr Lees by emailing [email protected]