TO cheer us all up during the dark January nights, Chester Little Theatre is planning to bring lots of Gallic farcical humour to their stage with Molière’s tale of The Miser.

It is the tale of a crabby, mean old bloke who hides his fortune and makes out to his family that he hasn’t got two sous to rub together.

John Turner, playing the Miser, Harpagon, and co-directing with Charlie Nunez, says: “This play is a hoot from beginning to end. If there is a take-away ‘message’, it’s delivered directly to the audience by one of the miser’s servants: 'You’ll leave this theatre now a little wiser, and never will you dare to be a miser!'

"The fact that the master of the house gets his comeuppance and the young lovers (yes, there are some!) get their wishes is all down to the cunning of the working classes – and we, the audience, are winked at and teased as the story is told.

“And the story is, of course, an old one: the classic conflict between money and love. Harpagon is determined that his daughter Elise will marry a wealthy old man who doesn’t ask for a dowry - never mind that he’s far too old, she can’t stand him and that she’s in love with the penniless Valere. Harpagon’s son, Cleante, is in love with Mariane, the woman who Harpagon himself is determined to woo and marry with the help of his hidden fortune. There follows a lot of tangling, confusion, raised voices and stamping out of rooms before it can all be untangled and smoothed out by the smart servant, La Fleche. This updated version of the play by Freyda Thomas bubbles over with life and humour.”

The Miser opens on Saturday, January 12, and then on Monday to Saturday, January 14-19, at 7.30 pm.

Tickets are £10 and £8 concessions on first Saturday, Monday and Tuesday evenings.

To book online, go to www.chesterlittletheatre.co.uk or telephone TicketSource: 0333 666 3366. Booking charges apply. Chester Little Theatre is in Gloucester Street, Chester CH1 3HR.