EACH time playwright Dave Purdy has been within weeks of his play Chimney being staged, the production has gone up in smoke!

Now the writer from Briar Hill Close, Little Hulton, is keeping "everything crossed" that it will be a case of third time lucky.

Dave, who is also on a teacher training course at Bolton Institute and appears as a stand-up comedian in his spare time, is due to finally see his play performed in Salford later this month.

But until the curtain opens, he says he will not really believe it will go ahead. The reason?

The first time his two-handed play was due to be staged was in 2000 when a Scottish theatre company agreed to take it to Edinburgh. But weeks before it was due to open, one of the actors broke his leg in a car accident and the production was scrapped.

Second time around, Lancaster theatre group, Soul Galore, was set to stage Chimney. Everything was going well until two weeks to go when one of the actors was sentenced to a three-month prison sentence for receiving stolen goods. Dave said: "I cannot believe anything could go wrong again but I am keeping everything crossed and have been telling the actors to wrap themselves in cotton wool.

"There are only two people in the play and it lasts 30 minutes so it is very intense. It is not as though anyone can really step in at the last minute.

"This is only the- third play I have written. It has been so disappointing to see the production fall apart in front of my eyes twice."

The play features two men sat at the top of a chimney, neither knowing what they are doing there. It is being put on by Launchpad, a North-west based network which, using professional actors, highlights the work of new writers.

Chimney will be staged from June 12 to 14 at the Robert Powell Theatre, Frederick Road Campus, Salford University. Tickets, £6 and £5 concessions, from 01204 496986 or launchpad123@hotmail.com