The life of one of Hollywood’s great personalities will be on stage at the Wharf Theatre in Devizes from May 8-16.

Wiltshire Gazette & Herald journalist Lewis Cowen has written a one-man play on the life of Samuel Goldwyn, one of the founders of Hollywood. The show traces his life from his birth in Warsaw, Poland.

Goldwyn, born Shmuel Gelbfisz, walked across Europe to find a better life, turning up in England before heading across the Atlantic. He was a glove salesman before getting involved in the infant motion picture industry. He produced the first feature film ever made in Hollywood and was involved with all the great names in show business.

The play is set in 1939 when Goldwyn consults a psychoanalyst.

Despite himself he bares his soul and reveals his deepest fears and guilt. His revelations include details of infidelity, betrayal and murder.

The show, Include Me Out, is the second half of a double bill. In the first half of the evening, Merrily Powell directs four short plays by major writers, James Saunders, Lyndon Brook, Harold Pinter and Alan Ayckbourn.

They were included in the collection Mixed Doubles, first published in the 1970s and still retain their power today, as four married couples reveal the strains that modern living places on relationships.