WE all need laughter, we all need light relief." It seems Ann Moore, who directs the Swan Theatre Amateur Company's latest show, is on the same wavelength as Alan Ayckbourn, the man behind the play they are about to perform.

The STAC production of Relatively Speaking, at the Swan next month, sees Moore, a stalwart of the local theatre scene, sitting comfortably in the director's chair.

"I joined STAC in 1970," she says. "I've directed more than 30 plays altogether."

Moore seems to have an unwavering commitment to local amateur dramatics and a genuine passion for what she calls her hobby'.

"When we do Ayckbourn we know we're going to have fun in rehearsals," she said.

"And that is important because, after all, we doing this as a hobby. We all work hard during the day and we all need laughter, we all need light relief and that's what we get with him."

The last time Moore was on stage for STAC she was playing Doris in Alan Bennett's Talking Heads monologue A Cream Cracker Under The Settee, the role famously played by the late Thora Hird.

"I don't do as much acting now," she says. "It's a bit hard to remember the lines."

Relatively Speaking, starring Bob Churchill, Miriam Knight, Keith Thompson and Sue Hawkins, is an early Ayckbourn play, which he wrote with the simple intention of making people laugh.

"If there is anybody who doesn't laugh," promised Moore, "I will personally give them their money back."

The play is about Greg, who after a whirlwind romance, wants to marry Ginny.

When Greg mistakes his girlfriend's former lover Phillip, an older man, for her father and asks Phillip for permission to marry his daughter', things get out of slightly out of hand.

Relatively Speaking runs from Tuesday, October 9 to Saturday, October 13. For tickets call the Worcester Live box office on 01905 611 427.