IT'S 10pm and I've just been at the rehearsals for Wife of Kendal - and witnessed something pretty special.

It isn't often I struggle for words.

But I wonder fleetingly how can I do the ambitious production justice?

Commanding is the first word that leaps out from my notes - a word that sprang to mind watching Sandy Lofthouse as vicar John Cooper wrestle with Darwinism in the 1850s.

He paced up and down near the lectern of Kendal Parish Church, spouting about Darwin's life-changing ideals that man came from monkeys.

"We were not created, we evolved!" he bellows, shaking his head in disbelief.

That was one commanding performance - Judith Notley, as the Wife; Guy Pocock, Husband; and David Williams, as Oswald Mosley, provided others.

Their scene was riveting.

Black shirt Mosley was at Gooseholme in 1934, and David plays the British politician to a tee, attempting to rally followers with his fascist spiel.

"I developed his speech from the copy in The Westmorland Gazette's archives, which covered Mosley's visit to Kendal," admits Wife of Kendal writer Robert Cohen, a former reporter, producer and programme editor on the BBC's Five Live flagship news programme.

One of his most memorable experiences while at the BBC was being part of the production team which broke the news of Princess Diana's death to the nation.

He moved to New Hutton in 1998 with his wife Anne and their two children and set-up Striding Edge Communications - a fund-raising, marketing and publicity agency working with the voluntary sector.

This is his first full-length script.

And very impressive it is too.

During rehearsals, Robert's face is a picture - a mix of extreme concentration and apprehension.

Although The Wife of Kendal is powerful drama - which for its four-night run in the parish church from Wednesday, October 11-14, will be augmented by some of the most stylish video images and sound - it also has a lighter, comic side.

A prime example is one scene with a French and Saunder-ish, double act of Wife Judith Notley and Eileen Nichols as The Cleaner, mopping up with buckets full of humour.

The idea for The Wife came about as the parish church council wanted to do something special to mark the Millennium, and celebrate 1,000 years.

The church reaches its own 800th anniversary next year.

The New Hutton former journalist was approached by the producer and family friend Diane Burton to concoct a son et lumiere-type event.

And the glittering cast - well it couldn't be better, some of the region's finest.

As well as the aforementioned, there's a host of other familiar and renowned local acting talents, including Jim Murray, prised out of retirement to play Puritan vicar Henry Massey (1645-1656); Richard Sutton, as Ronald Symes, circa 1915; and former Queen Katherine School student now at university Lianna Bellis Jewell, who plays The Daughter, and according to Karen plays an anchor role which pushes the story forward through narration.

All in all it promises to be a spectacle Kendal will never forget.

Tickets: adults £7.50, £3 children aged 16 and under, and concessions £6.50.

Family tickets are £ 15.

Bookings on 01539-724410 or from the parish church booking office, Kirkland.