One Hundred Years in Worktown. Bill Naughton Studio, Octagon Theatre, Bolton.

ORDINARY lives make extraordinary theatre in this collection of compelling monologues performed by local amateur actors.

This "documentary drama" is part of a community arts project led by local playwright Stephen Fielding and hosted by Bolton Institute as part of the Year of the Artist scheme.

A research team conducted more than 60 interviews with Bolton people to create an oral history of the town, an exhibition at the Art Gallery and this remarkable theatrical evening.

Simon Stallworthy, a former Octagon Executive Director, directs performances featuring reminiscences covering the years between 1918 and 1999.

This sell-out production, which has already seen the addition of an additional matinee performance on Saturday afternoon, features the humorous, sad and inspirational memories of real Bolton people. Stories gathered from participants including Gordon Craig, Alice Urmston, Hilda Peace Unsworth, Maud Ferguson, Dorothy Sharples, Irene McVittie, Norman Pendlebury, Clive Walsh, Arthur Barnard, Edith Taylor Uttambhai Mistry and Edith Ibbotson are brought to life in fine style.

The actors, who all deserve the highest praise, are Ernest Dawson, Christine Pearce Jones, Michael Tatman, Joyce Smith, Margaret Speakes, Cecilia Keefe, Kathleen Ashworth, Mike Hall, Malcolm Evans, Aldis Kreicbergs, Fred Mayers, Sheila Clift, Parvaiz Awan, Edith Ibbotson and Frank Bowdler.

It is impossible to do justice here to the wide range of characters on show, but the play gives a fascinating snapshot of working life in Bolton last century. Many of these people survived harsh conditions in the mills and elsewhere with stoicism and humour and have clearly enjoyed telling the tale now.

We hear among other things about the deafening conditions for mill girls, the time and motion spy with a watch called "Tommy Ticker" and the man who became a professional goalkeeper because that's the way his skills developed after his childhood friends would not let him kick their ball with his clogs on.

The story about the special home guard team -- a real life Dads' Army -- protecting the Deansgate Post Office from enemy incursions is worth the ticket money on its own.

All the material here is too good to be forgotten after these performances end.

It is to be hoped that these monologues can be featured again some time in the future -- maybe by one or more of our talented amateur theatrical groups. The writing is by Marie Atherton, Kathleen Bateman, Sheila Clift, Stephen Fielding, Shirley Hastings, Kelvin Horrocks, Edith Ibbotson, Carol A. Page and Jennifer Whitelaw. Alan Calvert