A GOUROCK father and daughter are staging famous play The Crucible for the first time in Inverclyde in decades.

Jonty and Rebecca Cameron are directing and producing Arthur Miller's classic, which will be staged at The Albany on May 26.

The powerful drama, based on the Salem Witch Trials, was written by Miller as a metaphor for the anti-American witch-hunts of the 1950s.

Jonty, a member of the Amerikana Theatre Company staging the play, said: "It's a play that's never done because it's got a huge cast.

"I've always wanted to do it.

"It was on the curriculum in the 1960s and 1970s when I was at school and it was one of the first plays I had ever seen professionally.

"It's the first time about 40 years it has been staged in Inverclyde.

"The key theme is conflict between religious beliefs and personal vendettas between individuals in the village."

Jonty, 58, says the Albany will be the ideal environment for the play.

He said: "The space upstairs lends itself to the courtroom scene and the ante-room of the old church is exactly the way the play should been done."

There are 22 people in the cast including many well known faces from Inverclyde, and they have been rehearsing since February.

Rebecca, 26, is no stranger to the stage and has a degree in Acting for Stage and Screen and Queen Margaret University.

The former Gourock High pupil is set to leave the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in the summer with a postgraduate qualification in education and learning.

She is following in her dad's thespian footsteps, as Jonty has been involved in the local drama scene for many years.

Jonty, who works in finance for Hewlett Packard, said: "I directed Rebecca in youth theatre shows and now we are working together.

"It's been good fun, the usual father and daughter relationship.

"I don't agree with what she says a lot of the time and she doesn't agree with me.

"She is very knowledgeable.

"Rebecca studied the play at university and being the producer is the big thing, she has to deal with everything and does some direction as well.

The performance on May 26 starts at 8pm.

To book tickets call 866100.