Penny Ducks are having the time of their lives

Behind the smoked glass windows of any pub, there's a whole world of character and conversation waiting to be found.

And in a new play by the Hull-based group, Penny Duck Theatre, the strangeness – and humour – of the lives that nurse a pint of an evening is explored.

Time! – its name is inspired by the barman's closing call – will be performed in Hessle next week.

"The four of us who wrote the play were meeting up in pubs and talking about ideas," said Andy Wilson, of Penny Duck. "So it made sense to set it inside a pub."

Andy worked with three other writers – Dane Standing, James Marsters and Dan Firrs – on the production. With the exception of Dan, who is travelling in America, all take roles in the play, alongside actors Tim Bettridge and Jim Lent.

The group began to devise various themes around different characters in a pub setting.

"We do not specify where the pub is – but the characters speak a lot of 'Hullisms'," Andy said.

The finished play, which includes three pairs of characters and a glass collector, runs through a series of meetings that veer from the comic to the menacing.

In its style and setting, Andy likens the finished product to the Jim Cartwright play, Two, in which two actors play a range of characters who meet up in their local boozer.

Among the characters in Time! are Ed and Dick, two men who meet there every night.

"They are in there every evening talking the same old nonsense," said Andy. "It's always conversations about pretty much nothing – daft questions, thoughts that go nowhere."

There are also two men – Sam and Lesley – out to meet their blind dates, little realising they've been paired up with each other by mistake.

Penny Duck Theatre – named after a Penny Duck, a block of spices and meat once widely popular in the cooking pots of Hull – was formed by a group of friends from the Hull area. They staged their first production – a double bill of John Godber plays Bouncers and Shakers – in July last year and were planning a second production.

Then Andy snapped his cruciate ligament and spent the next two months recuperating in bed.

"We decided this was the best way forward," said Andy. "Rather than spending money on getting the rights to another play, we decided to write one ourselves.

"We've taken a bit of a risk but, hopefully, it's one that will pay off. This is new to us – it is a new style of theatre. As a group we are trying something different and, hopefully, we will entertain the audience with it."

*Time! is on at the Old School House, The Hourne, Hessle, from Monday, May 25-Wednesday, May 27, 7.30pm. Tickets are £2.50-£3 call 07910 686814