Behind the affluent, cultured Brighton of today lies a salacious, crime-ridden past - a town whose seedy underbelly inspired Graham Greene and earned it a reputation as a murder hotspot.

The inaugral production of a new city theatre company dives head-first into this murky, between-wars setting, exploring the notorious 1934 trunk murders that shocked the nation and led to Brighton being dubbed "the queen of slaughtering places" by the popular press.

A revival of Stephen Plaice’s acclaimed 1993 play about the killings, this production has been re-worked by the writer specifically for the Brighton Theatre Collective, whowanted to put the city at the centre of its first production.

"I had remembered seeing Trunks when it was first on tour," says Janette Eddisford, artistic director for the fledgling group. "It seemed to me that our first production had to have Brighton itself as a character in the piece."

The result is a carefully considered re-imagining of the play, starring Richard Hawley, best known for his role in Prime Suspect, Gary Sefton, who has worked as movement director with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Sian Webber, who has balanced television work in programmes such as EastEnders with a respected stage career.

Like the company itself, all are locally-based, and Janette says the actors were keen to explore the shadowy side of their home town. "At the time, Brighton was thought of as a murder capital. Knife crime was rife, as were gangs and prostitution and the place was swamped with drugs from the hospitals," she says.

This atmosphere has been captured in the production by a 12-strong ensemble. "They form a moving body of people, who make up the shady characters on the street, people walking along the promenade, the commotion at Brighton Station, and the dancers that occupy the ballrooms," Janette says.

The macabre, real-life story is not all darkness and gloom, however. At the heart of the grisly tale is a genuine love story, and the town is not populated entirely by gangsters and undesirables, as Janette explains.

"There is a real contrast in the play, because the good, honest characters in the play tend to come from Brighton, while the characters that come down from London bring trouble, mayhem and corruption."

The project is something of a labour of love for Janette, who has lived in the city for 25 years, and her colleagues who have formed the new group.

"I moved to Brighton, but found there were no resident, producing theatre companies," she says. "There are so many creative people here, but there isn’t specifically a theatre company from and for our city."

Janette is the principal of theatre school the Academy of Creative Training in Rock Place, and together with her colleague and fellow artistic director, Daniel Finlay, began talking to the Old Ship Hotel - the oldest building in the city - a year ago about establishing a new venue for the company’s work.

"There aren’t any mid-sized venues exclusively for theatre, so we’ve decided to create one ourselves," Janette explains. "We are going back to that punk ethos of do-it-yourself, and the Old Ship have been fantastic."

The company’s self-funded efforts (Janette says the collective is a "credit card company" at this stage) have transformed the space into a new venue, complete with lighting, staging and seating. Plans are already afoot for the play to be the centrepiece of the group’s work at next year’s Brighton Festival, but not before the company stages an abridged version of Dicken’s Christmas Carol for the festive season.

"We want a home-grown company for Brighton, and we want to give city audiences something unique and relevant to them," Janette says.

  • Doors 7pm (2pm mats on Saturday, August 23 and Monday, August 25), tickets £10.50/£12.50.

Call 01273 709709 or visit www.brightonticketshop.com