STEPPING into a role at two weeks’ notice is a challenge for any actor.

Stepping into one of the lead roles and juggle the task with study and university visits was a phenomenal achievement for Attfield debutant Rory Blessington.

But it would be unfortunate if the focus was on the circumstances rather than what was achieved by the cast in this sensitive and perceptive re-telling of Ladies in Lavender.

Talented young violinist Andrea Marowski (Blessington) is washed up, barely alive, on the shores of Cornwall in the years before the Second World War.

Spinster Ursula Widdington (Michaela Turner) falls inappropriately in love with him while her sister Janet tries to keep their own relationship on an even keel. In addition they face hostility from within the community faced with this one-boy invasion from Poland.

The ladies’ housekeeper Orcas (Kath Evans) kept the atmosphere this side of maudlin, while the doctor (John Newton) had a love interest of his own in the enigmatic young Olga Danilof (Grace Turner) who rejects his advances and steals Andrea away to London where he is expected to make his fortune.

The final scene where the sisters gather around the radio to hear the concert with Andrea as the soloist brought a heart-breaking finale to a fine production.