Lady Willpower

A £30 million estate is at stake at Stirling Theatre.

Three siblings are battling over the money in the gentle comedy of bad manners and deceit Lady Willpower, written and directed by Bob Charteris. Lady Catherine Cadwalladr has led an unusual life and intends to make her last days equally unusual by re-writing her will.

"This causes ructions with her rather nasty and spiteful middle-aged children who think they are going to get an equal share of the estate," Charteris said.

"That’s until they discover their mother has certain ‘conditions’.

"I have been able to secure a first-class cast for the show, several of them very experienced in all areas of theatre.

"This is of considerable help to me because they know what’s required in terms of action, movement and dialogue, meaning the audience will be entertained throughout the play."

Charteris, a journalist for 50 years, is a late bloomer when it comes to acting, first performing at age 60 in Mame at Limelight Theatre in 2007. He went on to appear in Habeus Corpus, Out of Order and Jesus Christ Superstar and has also performed with Stirling and Garrick Theatres and the Graduate Dramatic Society.

Since retiring from journalism, Charteris has taken up the challenge of writing more plays—his first two, You Can’t Hurry Love and Henry Wharton and the Einstein Fracture, were produced at Stirling Theatre in 2012. His inspiration for Lady Willpower stems from real-life events.

"I’ve always been fascinated by media reports of families fighting over wills so I thought it would make an ideal subject for a comedy," Charteris said.

Joining Lady Willpower on the same bill is The Greening of Grace, the story of a woman who changes her philosophy and politics after traumatic life events.

Both are being presented under the banner of "Grace and Willpower". Book through Morris News on 9446 9120 or at Trybooking.