DARK and farcical goings-on in a debt-ridden country house lie at the heart of a new play to be performed by Piggyback Theatre Company at 41 Monkgate, York, from Wednesday to Saturday.

Burgher Hall is the first full-length work by York writer Ged Cooper, who co-ordinates the York branch of Script Yorkshire, an organisation that campaigns for new writing for radio, television, film and theatre by Yorkshire and Humberside writers.

The play is the second production by Piggyback, a not-for-profit company set up by playwright Peter Gordon, whose golfing play Par For The Course was staged last year in aid of St Leonard’s Hospice. The charity will benefit again from this week's show.

Co-directed by Ged Cooper and Beryl Nairn, Burgher Hall tells the story of what happens when Sir Henry Burgher dies, leaving his family with huge debts. His adult children, two sons Jocelyn (played by Daniel Wilmot) and Evelyn (Matthew Pattison) and daughter Hilary (Sally Backhouse) make plans to preserve the family home of Burgher Hall.

They may never have agreed on anything but now their future is at stake. Their ancient nanny (Ruth Ford), young cleaner Alice (University of York drama student Lauren Burnett) and Glaswegian vicar Jim (Alan Flower), a reformed armed robber, are entangled in the plot when Hilary organises the shooting of a movie at the hall.

The charismatic Californian film director, Victor Grey (Lol Henderson), falls in love with the house and its inhabitants, but family tensions and sibling rivalry simmer below the surface. Will the movie ever be made, and can it ensure the survival of Burgher Hall?

Ged’s progression to a full-length play was triggered by Peter Gordon. “He put out a challenge to local writers to see if anyone was interested in writing for Piggyback, and so I arranged a meeting with Peter for the Script Yorkshire writers, as lots of us write short plays for Script Factor, but I don’t think any of us had done a full-length one,” she says.

“He talked to us about how much to write, the balance of gender in the characters, not quite a formula, but nevertheless the elements for a commercial play.”

Ged had written a 15-minute sketch version of Burgher Hall that was presented in the Theatre Royal Studio 18 months ago.

“Initially one of the jokes was that there were three brothers who all had female names, Jocelyn, Evelyn and Hillary, but Peter suggested that for balance, the play should have four males, three females, and Hilary should be a sister.”

In between sketch and final play, Ged took another step.

“I went down to the Sitcom Trials in London, run in a pub in Fleet Street, where you take your 15-minute sitcom and these two writers would then rip it apart for you,” she says.

“What did I learn? Quite a lot, actually. For example, they said that in every sitcom there is a stupid or clueless character who is often loveable, and I have that in the character of the younger brother, Evelyn.

“So that gave me something to build in: I made Evelyn quite naïve, and that’s why people like him because he’s sincere and open – and Matthew Pattison says he likes him because he reminds him of himself when he was younger.”

Ged set about writing a 30-minute version, as if for a television episode, but then came Peter Gordon’s call to writers.

“I’d written short plays for such a long time, I thought, ‘Well, I really should have a go’, and with Peter’s guidelines, it’s given me the structure for the long version,” she says. “The ebb and flow is really important. It needs more than one point of crisis in a play, so I have two.”

As part of Peter’s challenge, he has promised to pass on plays performed by Piggyback to his agents, Josef Weinberger. “That made it even more of a good opportunity for me,” says Ged, who intends write further full-length plays.

“It’s more of a challenge, having written a lot of short ones.”

• Piggyback Theatre Company presents Burgher Hall at 41 Monkgate Theatre, York, May 11 to 14, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Tickets cost £9, concessions £8, on 01904 623568.

• ALL proceeds from this production will go to St Leonard’s Hospice, York.

Janet Morley, director of fundraising at the hospice, says: “We’re delighted that Peter Gordon and his Piggyback company are again presenting a world premiere in aid of St Leonard’s.

“Par For The Course provided lots of laughs for a very appreciative audience and Ged Cooper’s Burgher Hall is sure to do the same. Please go along to support the company – and help the hospice too.”