CRADLEY Village Players are set to follow last year’s moving study of WWI with Habeas Corpus - a play that’s an unashamed celebration of sex and the human body.

The Alan Bennett play is set in the household of GP Arthur Wicksteed, played by Mike Rogers, which is revealed to be a hotbed of confusion, misunderstanding and frustration.

Identities are mistaken, wires crossed and human emotions - as well as much else - are laid bare

Regretting his lost youth, Arthur drops his veneer of smooth professionalism to reveal his desire for Felicity Rumpers, played by Cressida Dunnett, who has just appeared at his surgery.

But her nubile attractions are also the focus of Arthur’s hapless hypochondriac son Dennis (Dan Whitehouse) while his long-suffering wife Muriel (Tricia Rogers) and flat-chested sister Connie (Joanne Eldridge) have plans of their own.

These plans involve a falsie-fitter from Leatherhead who aims his prehensile fingers at all the wrong bosoms, the Chairman of the BMA, an arrogant colonial widow and a frustrated local clergyman.

Not to mention a patient whose cries for help are studiously dismissed by the other larger-than-life characters.

Throughout all this Mrs Swab, the lady-wot-does, manages to confuse the company and ensures the audience are always one step ahead of the action.

Producer David Robertson said: "This is a farce like no other as the skeletons in Dr Wicksteed’s cupboard come home to roost in what one critic said was like an animated McGill postcard with the captions written by an elegant verbal stylist.

"Alan Bennett may have become a national treasure but he’s still a wickedly funny satirist in this his commentary on the ultimate selfishness of the permissive age."

Directed by Mary Fielding, Habeas Corpus is at Cradley School from Wednesday, May 27 to Saturday, May 30.

Tickets are £8 and can be bought online at Cradleyvillageplayers.com or at The Butchery, Cradley.