IF your week ahead looks quiet, why not treat yourself to a daily trip to the theatre, safe in the knowledge you'll be seeing a different show every night?

Witness the skills of twelve local amateur drama groups first-hand as they compete in the 47th Southend Annual Theatre Festival.

The event runs until Saturday with the different groups performing one-act plays before an audience.

It is also the first round of the All England Theatre Festival, which culminates in a national final in Southport in June.

As well as being played out in front of the audience, each play will be watched over by an adjudicator.

Once the curtain falls after each performance, the judge will give an assessment of the performance, direction, staging and other points before the next play begins.

The festival takes place at the Eastwood Studio Theatre in Leigh.

Among the theatre companies performing will be Southend Drama Society. They will be staging Moliere's play Sganarelle on Friday.

The 17th-century farce is a tale of mistaken identity, set in Paris, about a man called Sganarelle who believes his wife is having an affair with a younger, more attractive man.

Due to the late withdrawal of one theatre company, an evening has been devoted to a talk by the festival's adjudicator Charles Evans.

As a member of the Guild of Drama Adjudicators, he will be talking about what he looks for in productions and hosting a question and answer session on Thursday.

Tickets for each night cost £7 or £5 for concessions. Tickets for the whole week are also available at £25 or £20.