Comedy duo hits Manchester Festival

Sitcom team: David Bolton, Gemma Daubney, Jenny Roche

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Everybody has their favourite and least favourite TV sitcom but adding a new dimension to the genre are two people from Rochdale.

Director, Gemma Daubney from Littleborough and producer, Jenny Roche from Firgrove was one of the writers for Sitcom Shorts a series of 15 minute sitcoms. which was staged at the John Thaw Theatre, Manchester during the Not Part of Festival, a fringe alternative to the Manchester International Festival.

Sitcom Shorts began as an idea by members of Manchester Comedy Writers Group, set up by David Bolton from Shaw, and things just went from there.

Jenny Roche, a writer of comedy, said: “We hope we’ve got a good selection of scripts from the traditional to the not so traditional, with something for everyone’s taste of humour”.

After receiving a standing ovation for directing a student production of Ionesco’s The Bald Prima Donna, Gemma Daubney was looking for an outlet for comedy directing and was delighted to be asked to direct Sitcom Shorts.

The director said: “I can’t thank Manchester Comedy Writers Group enough for this opportunity,” she says, “I now feel I’ve found my vocation.”