THE popular Belfast based theatre company, Belvoir Players make a welcome return to The Ardhowen with their production of the hilarious comedy, ‘‘Allo, ‘Allo’, running from tonight (Thursday) until Saturday, July 18.

‘ALLO ‘ALLO Ardhowen regulars, the Belvoir Players, return with ‘Allo, Allo’, a comedy by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft. This staged version of the popular TV comedy series, set in a small-town café in German-occupied France during the Second World War, features the café owner René Artois and wife Edith as they struggle to keep hidden a priceless portrait stolen by the Nazis. The café is being used as a safe house for two brave but clueless British airmen, Herr Otto Flick of the Gestapo is on the hunt for the missing painting and René also has the French Resistance to cope with. Add to this René is trying to keep his affairs with his waitresses secret from his wife, Edith, who regularly “sings” in the café, despite being an appallingly bad singer. Things come to a head when the Fuhrer plans to visit the town.

Patrons should note that, due to some adult content, this production is deemed suitable for 14 years and over.

HAPPY DAYS The fourth Annual Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival takes place from July 23 to August 3. Ardhowen performances include: the Berliner Ensemble in their first visit to Ireland with ‘Warten Auf Godot’ (Waiting For Godot); France’s leading choreographer Maguy Marin presents ‘May B’ and Adrian Dunbar directs ‘The Waste Land’ by T. S. Eliot.

MAY B France’s leading choreographer Maguy Marin brings her dance company to perform in Ireland for the first time, presenting ‘May B’ in The Ardhowen. Created in 1981 with special permission from Beckett, Marin’s ‘May B’ is a seminal work inspired by Beckett’s writing, with music by Franz Schubert, Gilles de Binoche and Gavin Bryars. Performances of ‘May B’ take place on Friday, July 24 and Saturday, July 25, at 8.30pm and on Sunday, July 26, at 3pm.

WARTEN AUF GODOT/WAITING FOR GODOT Founded by Bertolt Brecht, one of Germany’s foremost theatre companies, The Berliner Ensemble, will make its first visit to Ireland with their controversial production of Beckett’s ‘Warten Auf Godot’ (Waiting for Godot) by the legendary Hungarian-born playwright and director George Tabori. It caused a storm when it was first produced by the Berliner Ensemble on the centenary of Beckett’s birth in 2006 and is considered by the Beckett Festival director Sean Doran to be the best production of Godot he has ever seen. The cast comprises Michael Rothmann (Estragon), Axel Werner (Vladimir), Roman Kaminski (Lucky), Gerd Kunath (Pozzo), Peter Luppa (Boy) and performances take place at The Ardhowen on Friday, July 31, and Saturday, August 1, at 8.30pm and in Sunday, August 2, at 5pm.

THE WASTE LAND Acclaimed Enniskillen born actor and Festival Associate, Adrian Dunbar will curate a specially commissioned presentation of ‘The Waste Land’ to mark the 50th Anniversary of the death of the writer, T. S. Eliot. Under Adrian’s direction, the presentation will feature newly composed music by Nick Roth evoking the 1920’s, the era when the poem was written, woven with the text and complimented by images. Performances of ‘The Waste Land’ take place on Saturday, August 1, at 1pm and on Sunday, August 2, at 2.30pm.

Details of the full programme for the Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival can be found at www.happy-days-enniskillen.com.

COMING SOON Entertainment for August includes music from Clubsound on Saturday, August 8, the popular Johnny Cash tribute ‘The Man In Black’ on August 22 and Sean Keane on Saturday, August 29. There is drama from South Bank Playhouse with ‘Wanted One Body’, Thursday August 13, to Saturday, August 15, and Holywood Players present ‘The Murder Room’, Thursday, August 27 and Friday, August 28.