COMING to a village hall near you, the Highlights Rural Touring Scheme has lifted the curtain on its spring season of theatre for 2016.

Taking to the stage at 23 village halls across South Lakeland, Eden and beyond will be brand new and well-travelled productions, from stories of love, revenge, displacement and survival alongside true-life stories such as the hermit who lived in a Lake District cave.

There are two rip-roaring shows for families, including Captain Morgan and the Sands of Time at Soulby Village Hall on Friday, April 22, and an enchanting performance of The Ugly Duckling. Online bookings www.highlightsnorth.co.uk

- Saturday, February 6, Appleby Public Hall - Zendeh Productions – Cinema

In August 1978 the Cinema Rex in Abadan, Iran was set alight and 422 people died. Using powerful storytelling, drama and film, this terrorist atrocity is told from the viewpoint of one of the sole survivors - the cinema's in-house cat, Scheherazade.

- Thursday, February 11, Orton Market Hall - Crick Crack Club – Fairy Tales for Grown-Ups: The Grateful and the Dead

Dark, beautiful, mysterious and startling; a full-blooded fairytale for grown-ups, full of enchantment and adventure.

- Thursday, February 18, Armathwaite Old School Hall - Freehand Theatre - Frogs and Snails and Teddy Bear Tales

This gentle and humorous play takes place amid the snow-white sheets and odd socks of an everyday wash. For children aged three to seven, and their families.

- Saturday, February 20 - Water Yeat Village Hall, near Ulverston - Out of Chaos - Macbeth

A two-man take on Shakespeare’s play, full of drama, intrigue and madness packed into just 80 minutes.

- Sunday, February 28, Shap Memorial Hall & Sunday, March 13, Arnside Educational Institute - Box of Tricks Theatre Company - Chip Shop Chips

The funny and nostalgic tale of two interwoven love stories, set in a chippy to a backdrop of Northern Soul - includes fish-and-chip supper.

- Friday, April 15, Orton Market Hall - Peter Macqueen - The Professor of Adventure

Based on the extraordinary life of eccentric hermit Millican Dalton, who lived in a cave on Castle Crag in Borrowdale, this one-man play set in 1941 celebrates his outlook on life.