Charlotte Keatley’s award-winning My Mother Said I Never Should will be a directorial debut for Anna Lingard when it takes to the stage in Llanymynech later this month.

The modern classic, which follows four women across the tumultuous 20th century and their desires to love and be loved, is being performed by popular local drama group The LADS.

Director Anna Lingard will be a familiar face to regular LADS audiences having appeared regularly on stage, but this will be her first time directing.

“This was a play I have wanted to direct for a long time, ever since I saw it on stage as a teenager,” she said.

“It left a lasting impression on me, shaping the way I experience theatre, and I hope it will have a similar affect with our local audience.”

Anna has appeared in plays including Twelfth Night, The Taming of The Shrew, Under Milk Wood and Steel Magnolias for The LADS in recent years – as well as in a hatful of productions at The Attfield, Oswestry – and has also run lights at productions for both the LADS and The Attfield..

“Directing such a great play, and one which had stayed with me since my teens, was a challenge I just couldn’t turn down,” said Anna.

“With a cast of only four, it’s definitely been a challenge, but there’s a great team behind me at The LADS, and I’ve also benefited from the vast experience of our patron, Michael Corbidge, Senior Voice & Test Associate with the RSC in Stratford

“It’s been exhausting, but a truly rewarding experience and we’ve got a very talented cast who are doing an amazing job in bringing to life these four complex and varied characters.”

Set in Manchester, Oldham and London, My Mother Said I Never Should is a poignant, bittersweet story about four women, and about love, jealousy and the price of freedom.

Doris (born in 1900), Margaret (1931), Jackie (1952) and Rosie (1971): four women from the same family; born in four very different times in history; who have four very different lives, but have the same goals…. using a kaleidoscopic time structure, My Mother Said I Never Should focuses on the four generations as they confront the most significant moments of their lives.

It’s wartime, and former teacher Doris encourages her nine-year-old daughter, Margaret, to mind her manners and practice the piano. The late 1960s and Margaret’s relationship with her own daughter is strained, as art student Jackie experiments with her new found sexual freedom. When Jackie becomes pregnant at 18 and has a baby, Rosie, all their lives change irrevocably…

Written in 1985, My Mother Said I Never Should is the most commonly performed work by a female playwright worldwide and earned Keatley the George Devine Award, as well as the Manchester Evening News Award for Best New Play. In 1990 she was nominated for an Olivier Award.

It’s a play many people will be familiar with, featuring on some GCSE English Literature courses – so don’t miss this chance to see this thought-provoking, intriguing and emotive play on stage.

My Mother Said I Never Should is on at Llanymynech Village Hall on Thursday, July 26 to Saturday, July 28. Tickets cost £8 (children half-price). Tickets for the play can be bought online from www.ladstheatre.co.uk via TicketSource, from Rowanthorn, and from Llanymynech Village Shop.