MEMBERS of Llanelli's Phoenix Theatre Group are getting set to stage their last ever production at Theatr Elli next month.

The group will end 34 years of performances at the theatre with Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard before finding a new venue for their productions when Theatr Elli closes later this year.

Artistic director Noel Rees said: "It will be a bitter-sweet experience for us because Theatr Elli has been our major performing space since May 1978, when we presented our first production there — Oscar Wilde's comedy Lord Arthur Savile's Crime."

Since then, Theatr Elli has been the scene of around 80 Phoenix productions.

Ranging from audience-pleasing comedies to thrillers, the group has performed hits including Summer and Smoke, Conduct Unbecoming, Amadeus, Inherit the Wind, Noises Off, A Man for All Seasons, Shadowlands, Sweeney Todd, The Shakespeare Revue, Rebecca, Pygmalion and last spring's production of Under Milk Wood.

Mr Rees said: "Theatr Elli is a place where the group feels especially at home, and the magic created there, ever since the former Llanelli Borough Council converted the 1938 Harry Weedon listed building, will live long in the memories of both actors and audiences.

"But it's a time of change for the performing arts in Llanelli and the choice of our final production at Theatr Elli has been a particularly difficult and poignant one.

"Sir Tom Stoppard's new English version of The Cherry Orchard ensures that this classic world-theatre comedy is especially appropriate for the occasion because the play's theme looks both to the future and reflects upon the past."

The play follows Liubov Ranevskya, a widowed landowner, who must sell off her vast and beautiful cherry orchard against her mounting debts, and is a snapshot of the great, slow-rolling change that came to a head with the Russian revolution in 1917.

Mr Rees said: "Llanelli's Phoenix Theatre Group promises audiences an absorbing theatrical experience and The Cherry Orchard is a fitting farewell tribute to Theatr Elli."

The Cherry Orchard will play for three nights, from Thursday, March 15 at 7.30pm.