THEATRE group regular Judith Armstrong is not going to let a broken elbow stop her from Stepping Out.

A member of St Paul’s Players, Adlington, she is due to play Rose in the musical play about the lives of a group of eight people attending a weekly tap dancing class.

Just five weeks before curtain up, at Adlington Community Centre, on Tuesday, September 2, she slipped at work and broke her elbow.

Phil Armstrong, a member of St Paul’s management committee, said: “After the initial pain had subsided, Judith’s thoughts turned to Stepping Out.

“She said to the doctor, ‘will I be able to tap dance in five weeks?’

“The doctor said, ‘of course you will’, to which Judith replied, 'well that's good because I couldn't tap dance before’!”

Off-stage drama aside and the cast members have a mixture of nerves and excitement at the prospect of tap dancing in the popular show.

Paul said: “For some of the cast this is no problem whatsoever given they are fluent in the language of tap, for some of the others however they are more comfortable replacing a tap rather than dancing one.”

Stepping Out was written by Richard Harris and had its West End debut in 1984, receiving that year’s Evening Standard Comedy Award, before being made into a 1991 American musical comedy film, starring Liza Minnelli.

It is only a matter of time before the characters realise the tap class is less of a social occasion and more of a release from their numerous problems.

Jane Catterall will play Mavis, Judith Holt is Mrs Fraser, Helena Carter is Lynne, Kathy Turton is Vera, Becca Hilton is Dorothy, Jacqui Brian is Maxine, Vicki Wilson is Andi, Graham Cohen is Geoffrey and Debbie Winnard is Sylvia.

Stepping Out, directed by Jane Harrison and produced by Lisa Cohen, runs from Tuesday, September 2, to Saturday, September 6,at Adlington Community Centre, Railway Road, at 7.30pm.


Tickets are available from Adlington Post Office or from the ticket hotline on 07403 287120.