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A theatre company in Norfolk (England) is in desperate need of a thespian... Perhaps acting experience isn't even necessary for this role.

The Boo and Hiss Company (catchy name!) requires the services of a stripper - in the name of art of course - for its fall production of "Fur Coat and No Knickers."

Keith Gilbert, one of the 20-strong players, said: "It's not a difficult role. There are no words, just the stripping down to the underwear bit. "But we can't find a woman to take some of her kit off as part of a stag-night party scene.

"The company made the appeal after one of the group who was pencilled in for the role pulled out because the performance clashed with her 30th birthday party.

Mr Gilbert, who is also mayor of Watton Town Council, added: "There is nothing erotic about it. It's just very, very comical."

The play, written by Mike Harding, tells the story of Deirdre Ollerenshaw and Mark Greenhalgh's wedding and includes the disastrous drunken exploits of a stag night.

Fur Coat and No Knickers will be performed at the Queens Hall, Watton, between 18 and 20 September.

Anyone who is interested in the part should contact Boo and Hiss Company in Watton.

The Boo and Hiss Theatre Company previously staged comical productions including 'Allo! 'Allo! and Are you Being Served?”

“All the money we raised went to the Norfolk and Norwich Scope (NANSA) charity which helps people suffering with cerebral palsy and associated disabilities,” Mr Gilbert said. “Last year we managed to raise £500 for them and we hope to get even better results this year.”Fur Coat and No Knickers will be performed at Watton's Queen's Hall from September 18 to 20.

Think you fit the bill?

For more information contact Keith Gilbert on 07730375986.

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Still catching up on my holiday surfing....

I saw this piece in the Guardian about the upcoming Paddington book, Paddington Here and Now, which is Michael Bond's first Paddington book in eons, written to commemorate the bear's 50th birthday. Evidently Paddingon gets into trouble with the London Metropolitan Police when they realize that he is in the country, if not illegally, then certainly suspiciously. I kid you not! Bond says that the intent of the book is not to write a "hot-button" story for kids, but to simply highlight for them the isolation one can feel when in a country that is not their own. To that I say look no further than Shaun Tan's outstanding wordless graphic novel The Arrival. But getting back to Paddington. While the thought of Paddington Bear being shipped back to darkest Peru seems comical, it sort of lends itself to the debate about revising books in order to bring them up-to-date with current sensibilities. In fact, it is an excellent example of why it's really not a good idea to revisit and revise the classics (or even the less than classic, but simply beloved.) It's nice to think that there was a time when Paddington could turn up on a train station in a busy capital and trust that someone would have the goodness of heart to see him for his worth and give him a safe and comfortable place to live. I'll have to reserve judgement until I've read the book, but I wish we could be celebrating Paddington's big 5-0 a little less oddly.

David LaRochelle's picture book The End joins such cultural mind benders as the film Memento and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (where we know the answer, just not the question.) Okay, well, maybe I'm stretching the comparison a bit, but the fact is that The End is a clever little oddity that starts at the end of the story and works its way backwards to the start. And, having read the book both forwards (that is, backwards) and back (you know what I mean!) it made more sense starting at....the end. With joyful illustrations by Richard Egielski (of Hey Al! fame) this book shows how the wisdom of hindsight can illuminate just about any situation. Even one that starts, "They all lived happily ever after."