THEATRE lovers are being given the chance to look behind the scenes at the famous Questors Theatre in Ealing, as a part of an exhibition celebrating 75 years of the well loved local resource.

Questors was formed in 1929 and performed in venues in Hanwell and Acton until 1933, when the club found permanent premises, an old iron church in Mattock Lane.

This was demolished in 1963 to make way for a brand new purpose built theatre, which has since been extended so that there are now two stages, the Playhouse and the Studio. Questors is now the largest amateur theatre club in Europe.

Over the years, many high profile theatre professionals have been associated with Questors.

Home-grown talents include Oliver Ford-Davies (who recently appeared with Nicole Kidman in The Blue Room), pioneer lighting designer Frederick Bentham and writer Peter Whelan. Dame Judi Dench is the current patron and other associates have included Amanda Redman and the late Sir Michael Redgrave.

Questors has always been a breeding ground for new talent, in acting, designing and writing. The famous Tom Stoppard play, Rosencrantz and Guildernstern are Dead' began life as a one-act play at a Questors New Plays reading.

To celebrate their seventy-fifth year, Questors has put on an exhibition at Gunnersbury Park Museum.

Here can be found photographs and programmes from some of the earliest productions, letters from such theatre greats as J.B. Priestley, Sybil Thorndike, Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter.

The public can also find out how the plays are staged: there are original designs and set models from productions such as The Snow Queen, costumes from The Snow Queen and Hedda Gabler, and a piece of theatre set that you can walk through and see how it is constructed.

Behind the Scenes' at the Theatre runs until August 15. Venue - Gunnersbury Park Museum, Gunnersbury Park, Pope's Lane, London W3. Admission is free. Opening hours - daily from 1pm - 5pm Tel: 020 8992 1612 email: gp-museum@cip.org.uk