THERE have been the Old Vic, The Palace and The Globe – and now Winter Hill is among the illustrious locations to provide a backdrop to the acting stars.

The Bolton beauty spot is the inspiration, location and title of the next big production to come to the Octagon Theatre.

On Thursday the cast of the show stepped out of the theatre into a very different rehearsal room - the hill's moorland terrain.

In a story penned by award-winning playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker, Winter Hill boasts a strong all-female line-up featuring well-known and admired names of stage and screen.

Emmy and BAFTA nominated actress Cathy Tyson is just one of the stars of the production which centres on a group of eight local women, as they deal with the ramifications of land on nearby Winter Hill being sold to developers to create a luxurious skyscraper hotel.

She said: "I love it up here, it's my kind of place. I love the outdoors.

"I am working with a group of women who are role models and who I look up to.

"This experience will be the making of me as a woman, it pushes me and I find that inspiring."

Cathy is joined by Wolf Hall's Janet Henfrey, a stalwart of British stage and small screen and probably most recognisable for her role as housekeeper Mrs Bale in sitcom As Time Goes By, while Souad Faress has appeared in everything from Games of Thrones to the Archers and Bridget Jones Diary.

Meanwhile Louise Jameson has gone from being an iconic companion in Doctor Who to becoming a theatre awards winner.

Eva-Jane Willis comes from performing at theatre's around the UK and the Octagon also welcomes back Susan Twist, who has just appeared in Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and Fiona Hampton from Of Mice and Men, The Glass Menagerie and Private Live.

Television stalwart Denise Black, known to fans for roles in Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Queer as Folk, last appeared on stage in Bolton back in 1990.

She said: "If you added all our ages up you have centuries of experience up there. The great thing about acting is you mature and get better.

"I've known Cathy years and Louise a few years and never worked with them. I've only just met Souad and I can't believe I'm sharing a stage with Janet!

"Last time I was at Bolton Octagon I became in awe of it. It is very different from any theatre in the land. It is very intimate. It feels exciting, alive, a place to debate!

"I'm playing a character I have never had the opportunity to play before. The women in this play are intelligent women, and that's what you are not allowed on television – you are not allowed intelligent women!"

This was Denise's second outing on to the hill's moors.

She adds: "I decided to come up Winter Hill last week and fell in a bog!

"I went back down and found some proper shoes and thick socks and came back up."

On this visit though, she and her fellow cast had to deal with cameras and film crew as they performed extracts of the play on the blustery hillside.

Watched over by the Octagon's artistic director Elizabeth Newman, they battled the breeze, cold and heckles of nearby sheep on the wind-swept stage.

Elizabeth approached Timberlake, author of the Olivier award winning Our Country’s Good and most recently Jefferson’s Garden, to write a piece set in Bolton and which enjoys its world premiere on May 11 at the theatre.

It explores how a group of seemingly ordinary women endeavour to protect their local community, no matter the cost and questioning the lengths people go to for a cause they believe in and at what point does the fight for freedom become terrorism?

Louise explains: "The play, I think, is extraordinary. Timberlake Wertenbaker writing a new play is such an event.

"It explores how women should or can protest, and if there is a justification for violence.

"My character is the more passive voice of the team.

"Timberlake has combined wit and tragedy in only the way women can when facing adversity."

Louise may have had some advantage over the cast when it comes to acting in unusual locations thanks to her time travelling in time and space – or at least a Welsh quarry or two – in Doctor Who.

However, rather than a warm raincoat and bobble hat she was clad in a small leather dress as 'savage’ but smart companion Leela.

She jokes: "My costume was a little different for dealing with locations like this!

"And of course I was a little more robust as a 26-year-old than I am at 65.

"There are few places left like this place, where you can do a 360 degree turn and see miles around you.

"It's an iconic site, I love it and feel privileged to be part of all of this.

"A lot of towns have their Winter Hill and I think this play will have a future, it will be international acknowledged and it started here, which is marvellous!"

Winter Hill will be playing at the Octagon Theatre Bolton from May 11 to June 3. To book visit octagonbolton.co.uk/whats-on.