After the summer break, the Playhouse’s new season opens with Moonlight and Magnolias by Ron Hutchinson (September 5 to 15) – a comedy about the writing of the screenplay for Gone With The Wind.

It is 1939 and legendary Hollywood producer David O Selznick has a problem on his hands: he is three weeks into shooting his latest movie – an adaptation of the best-selling novel Gone With The Wind – and the script just isn’t working. So, he sacks the director, pulls Victor Fleming off the set of The Wizard of Oz and hires respected screenwriter Ben Hecht. The three men then lock themselves into Selznick’s office until they come up with a script.

Julian Sands, the Hollywood actor, presents his much-acclaimed show celebrating the life and work of playwright Harold Pinter in the Wharfeside Theatre at Ilkley Playhouse on August 25 at 7.30pm. The show will be presented for one night only, and tickets are £12.50 or £10 concessions.

A Celebration of Harold Pinter, directed by John Malkovich, was first presented at the Edinburgh Festival last year where it was a huge success, and Julian Sands has since performed the show all over the world. It takes the form of readings from Pinter’s poems, plays and essays, anecdotes and extracts from interviews. The result is a warm, moving and affectionate tribute to the man who has been described as the defining British playwright of the 20th century.

Stand-up comedy returns to the Playhouse in the autumn courtesy of The Stagefright Comedy Club. The first show takes place on September 22, with a line-up that includes award-winning comedians Seymour Mace and Scott Bennett. Tickets are £10. Doors open at 7.30pm and the show starts at 8pm.

Tickets for all these shows can be booked by calling the Playhouse box office on (01943) 609539 between 10am and noon or by reserving online at the ilkleyplayhouse.co.uk website.