FOR their opening play of the season, Altrincham Garrick will present Charley’s Aunt, a farce by Brandon Thomas.

First performed in 1892, the play is still popular and, since then, there have been countless productions both in the UK and abroad.

Jack and Charley, Oxford undergraduates, are in love with Kitty and Amy. But it would be unthinkable for them all to meet without a chaperone.

Fortunately Charley’s aunt, Donna Lucia D’Alvadorez, a rich lady from Brazil, whom he has never met, is due to arrive on a visit, and would make an ideal chaperone.

However, she is delayed, and the boys’ friend Lord Fancourt Babberley (Babbs) - who is about to appear in amateur theatricals as an old lady - is persuaded to impersonate Charley’s aunt.

This has disastrous consequences. Not least because Jack’s father, Sir Francis Chesney, and the girls’ uncle Mr. Stephen Spettigue, both attempt to woo ‘Donna Lucia', the celebrated millionairess.

All is resolved when the real Donna Lucia turns up and confronts the imposter. There are consequences and happy endings all round.

* Charley’s Aunt is running at the Garrick Playhouse, Altrincham from September 5– 10. For tickets, telephone telephone 0161 928 1677 or book online at altrinchamgarrick.co.uk.