The seaside town of Torquay, touted as `the English Riviera' but acquiring wider fame as the setting for `Fawlty Towers', is not the sort of place to be associated with steamy affairs of the heart.

Chosen as the setting for a function that brings two disparate couples briefly together, Torquay and an ensuing `lost weekend' spent there, however, comes back to haunt the cast of a gripping new play that opens at Daylesford next week.

N.J. Crisp's `Dangerous Obsession', which will be directed by Barry Bailey for the BMDS, is a play which bristles with suspense to the very last moment. What attracted the cast to this particular thriller, though, is what they feel is the author's insight into character. Obviously unwilling to give too much of the plot away, they describe it as a play of "many twists and turns, with a theme of revenge, in the same way that the film `Fatal Attraction' and the classic play `Death and the Maiden' explored the way in which behaviour and events of the past can affect the present -- to say nothing of the future.

Carol Birch, John Thompson and Kelvin Hastings-Smith, who star in this thriller, are convinced that it will be a big hit with Daylesford audiences.

Architect John Thompson, in fact, was so thrilled with the script of the play, that he has returned to Bermuda expressly to do the play.

"I auditioned for this play on the very day that I left to return to the UK at the end of February. Then, I found I had been given the part so I decided to come back -- and here I am!'' "Yes, we're very honoured to have this jet-setting actor in our midst,'' says Kelvin Hastings-Smith, who made his own acting debut in last year's `Arsenic and Old Lace'. Playing Carol Birch's husband in the play, he admits he was "stunned'' when she walked in to the open audition. "It's great to be working with an actress of her calibre,'' he says of Ms Birch who is currently enjoying a huge success with her one-woman play `Shirley Valentine' for Jabulani Repertory Company.'' "Couldn't resist it,'' she says cheerfully, "even though I am also very busy rehearsing for the next Jabulani production. It's such a fabulous play, with a brilliant script and these three roles -- all of them -- are roles in a million! I haven't been so enthusiastic about a play for a long time.'' Mr. Hastings-Smith agrees. "It's just as entertaining, but much deeper than a `who dunnit'! This is hard to explain, though, without giving the plot away!'' Gripping new play opens next week Noting that the play is set in the present-day Midlands of England, he says that by the end of the evening, many preconceptions about the `cosiness' of middle-class life are shattered. "That's all we can say, really! I'm telling people that I can't tell them about the play, but it doesn't put them off -- it's making them more intrigued and determined to come and see it.'' Kelvin Hasting-Smith concedes that with this second major role, he has joined the ranks of Bermuda's `acting' lawyers. Crossing just some of them off on his fingers, he mentions Julian Hall, John Campbell, Warren Cabral, Mark Pettingill, and Juliana (Horseman) Jack, as just some of the `legal eagles' who have blazed the trail before him. "Yes, I'm the latest to get the theatre bug,'' he exclaims. "I think all lawyers should be actors. In any event, if you are a criminal lawyer (which I am not), it can be very nerve-racking in the beginning, so I would say that acting onstage is an excellent experience and preparation for courtroom appearances. Also,'' he adds, "a lawyer has to believe in the client in order to get the client's side of things over to a jury. That's very similar to an actor selling a story to an audience.'' Promising plenty of sound effects to keep the audience on edge ("we have gun shots''), Mr. Thompson says that the sets and lighting by Sue Bendell and Richard Klesniks, with set painting by Scott Rawell are "wonderful. The house in which the play takes place has incredible gardens which become part of the plot and they have all done such a marvellous job in making them look so realistic.'' For Barry Bailey, who directed Alan Ayckbourn's `A Chorus of Disapproval' (with John Thompson in the lead role) in 1995, this is his fifth production for Daylesford. He also directed `When the Wind Blows', Tom Stoppard's `Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead' and `Extremities'. Much of his contribution to local theatre, however, has been in the area of stage management, where he has headed that particular bill for such major productions as Warren Cabral's `Joan of Arc', `Pinter Trilogy' and `Crimes of the Heart' for BMDS, and `The King and I', `The Boy Friend' and `Carousel' for the Gilbert & Sullivan Society.

`Dangerous Obsession' runs at Daylesford from Monday, April 29 through Saturday, May 3.

"I am walking in the End to End charity race on the Saturday, together with our stage manager, Wendy Harlow,'' reveals John Thompson, "so I'll probably end up playing the last night in a wheelchair.'' "Well,'' quips Carol Burch, "maybe we could have the general public sponsoring John just to show up on the last night! After all, it's in a good cause!''