Over the past few years Eastbourne’s Devonshire Park Theatre has played host to two seasons of one-man shows and a week of new writing.

The new Studio Season gives room to more smaller-scale shows and exciting new productions which might not otherwise come to Eastbourne.

“It’s important when you put together any entertainment programme that you cater for everyone,” says Eastbourne artistic director Chris Jordan.

“We wanted to put in things that are more unusual and challenging to develop new audiences.

“If we stuck to larger-scale shows we would be missing out on a lot of really good quality small-scale work which would relish a platform like the Devonshire Park Theatre.”

This week’s Studio Season is split between two one-night one-man shows and two exciting ensemble performances.

To Be Frank: Frankie Howerd And The Secret Of Happiness, which is on tomorrow, sees performer David Benson return to the venue following Think No Evil Of Us, his one-man show about former Carry On star Kenneth Williams which launched the 2009 Solo Season.

This time the star of Up Pompeii, and Williams’s co-star in Carry On Doctor is the focus of his attention.

“What David does so cleverly is show the real people behind the mask,” says Jordan.

“He gets right under the skin of his characters. He pays homage to them rather than do a Rory Bremner-style impression.”

Although Benson’s work often reveals the sadness behind the clown’s facepaint, this show closes with the performer at his prime.

“There’s a big song-and-dance number and comedy routine,” says Jordan.

“You learn so much about Frankie, then you see him doing what he did best and what we loved him for.”

Another well-loved comic actor is at the heart of Two Halves Of Guinness, the Studio Season’s second one-man show on Friday.

Mark Burgess’s tale sees Trevor Littledale play Sir Alec Guinness at the end of the 1970s, when his role in StarWars brought him to a whole new audience that wasn’t aware of his past glories in British cinema.

“It’s a great challenge as a performer to capture the Britishness of Guinness,” says Jordan.

“He was the ultimate gentleman – especially in his roles in films such as Bridge Over The River Kwai and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – who had to deal with global fandom because he played a Jedi master.”

Showstopper: The Improvised Musical,which has already appeared at Komedia, in Brighton, is on Wednesday and Thursday for three performances.

“I’m really looking forward to Showstopper, as someone who directs musical theatre,” says Jordan.

“The thought of improv and musicals going together – a group of people and a piano and nothing else coming up with an entire musical – is very exciting. It’s very participatory as the audience will contribute ideas and see a piece of theatre that won’t be seen by anyone else.”

Closing the programme, with two performances on Saturday, is the Fitrovia Radio Hour, which brings the spirit of 1940s radio shows to the live stage, complete with crazy sound effects and chauvinistic humour.

This season is not the end of the Devonshire Park Theatre’s alternative programming.

Next season Eastbourne will welcome Scamp Theatre’s production of Those Magnificent Men, by Brighton playwrights Brian Mitchell and Joseph Dixon, as well as First World War musical Oh, What A Lovely War! by Blackeyed Theatre, and Bury St Edmunds Theatre Royal’s new musical Dick Turpin’s Last Ride.

* 7.45pm, 2,30pm matinees Wed and Sat, £12.50 for one show, £21 for two, £30 for three or £36 for all four, call 01323 412000