COMING after long years of Puritan suppression of plays, the appearance in Charles II's reign of the first actresses on the English stage caused a sensation.

It is apt that a cast of feisty woman in a bawdy drama about the period led the way in sensational style in "putting the theatre back into Leominster".

That is the declared aim of the newly-launched Festival Players and The Creative Place, an impressive new theatre space in Leominster Community Centre.

The town has been without a resident drama group for several years.

Playhouse Creatures by April De Angelis, directed by Richard Brookman, burst shockingly on the scene for the 25th Leominster Festival and the community centre's 20th anniversary.

Peppered with sexual innuendo and earthy language, it was not for those of a delicate disposition. The screams - in a scene portraying an attempted abortion - were quite chilling.

It was one of those rare plays in which all the major characters are female. The only male, a buffoonish Earl of Rochester (Mike James), dies a sad death pleading for an expression of affection from his haughty mistress Mrs Barry (Sophia Hutchins).

The tale centres on the glamorous but sometimes heartbreaking lives of famous theatrical figures from the period - Hereford's own Nell Gwynn (Jessica Coombey), Elizabeth Farley (Christina James), Rebecca Marshall (Maria Bird), Doll Common (Janet Williams) and Mary Betterton (Kate Garman).

They dazzled. Who of us who saw this performance will forget Janet as the coarse but kindly twinkle-eyed old crone of the dressing room, or Kate as the fading leading lady who shares her wisdom with the rising stars?

Jessica and Christina are in their teens. Their moving, sad, joyous performances were of enormous credit to them and were a hopeful sign that a new generation will breathe life into the local dramatics tradition.

The director, his cast and backstage crew, have rekindled the tradition in Leominster in a hugely entertaining style.

Pete Blench