The Night of the Iguana, Bingley Arts Centre The opening night of Bingley Little Theatre's production of the Tennessee Williams play was the late playwright's birthday.

Sadly it was no cause for celebration in Bingley.

Due to illness, the man playing the lead role of the Reverend T Lawrence Shannon had to pull out at the last minute.

BLT's Jonathan Scott made a valiant attempt at playing the fallen priest but had to read his lines from a book. In the second half he struggled to see to read while playing a scene tied in a hammock.

Still, ten out of ten to him for keeping going. It must have seemed like an endless night, the sweat must have been real by the end of his performance.

The play takes place in the summer of 1940 in the Costa Verde Hotel in Puerto Barrio on the west coast of Mexico.

Complex characters, most of them in crises largely of their own making, are thrown together.

There's a genteel New England spinster, Hannah Jelkes, primly played by Liz Hall, and her 97-year-old grandfather, Nono, a convincingly aged performance from David Poole.

Promiscuous, recently-widowed hotel owner Maxine (Sandra Chewins) fears she has competition from Hannah for the de-frocked priest's attention. He is too busy fighting his demons to notice.

The set, sound and lighting were superb.

Runs until Saturday.