It is time to step out in Dereham with the Dereham Operatic Society's spring offering.Take one weekly tap dancing class, add eight ladies of assorted ages, ambitions and sizes, one man who doesn't want to be noticed, and usually isn't, and add a cantankerous old piano player.

It is time to step out in Dereham with the Dereham Operatic Society's spring offering.

Take one weekly tap dancing class, add eight ladies of assorted ages, ambitions and sizes, one man who doesn't want to be noticed, and usually isn't, and add a cantankerous old piano player. Place the ingredients together and stir well and you start to reveal hidden secrets, hopes and fears in Richard Harris's hilarious award-winning comedy, Stepping Out.

Stepping Out was a huge success in the London's West End, being voted the "Evening Standard Comedy of the Year." The film starring Julie Walters, Liza Minelli and Shelley Winters was one of the biggest British films of the 1980s.

This comedy, directed by Zelda Rolfe, chronicles several months in the life of a beginning dance class. Each of the eight students, who come from a variety of backgrounds, has his or her own reason for joining. For instance, Maxine, a confident, fast-talking saleswoman (and former Ovaltine dancer), is there on doctor's orders, while self-sacrificing Andy participates because it is the only thing she does for herself.

Whatever the cause, they make a point of coming every week to chat, relax and, if they can manage to, learn a couple of dance steps. Led by Mavis, their eternally patient instructor, and accompanied by the acerbic pianist Mrs Fraser, the students (who range from hopeless to competent) strive to master the basics of dance.

But the steps and routines are just the background for the real focus of the play -- the relationships and interactions of these ten very different people. By their final performance, not only have the class members developed some degree of skill, but they have also overcome the inhibitions, awkwardness and personality conflicts that have kept them out of sync.

Stepping Out will be at Dereham Memorial Hall on Wednesday, April 30 to Saturday, May 3 at 7:30pm.

Tickets available from Hallmark in Dereham. Telephone: 01362 851919