It is the club that gave creative licence to some of the last century's most talented playwrights.

Now Sussex Playwrights Club is celebrating its 70th anniversary with plans to continue its tradition of turning out crowd pleasers for many years to come.

Patti Page, chairwoman of the club and an actor from Lewes, said: "We need new blood. Younger people have other distractions, such as videos, clubs and pubs.

"They think the theatre is for older people but don't realise how much fun it can be.

"Theatre is the most amazing buzz and thrill. It's like nothing else.

"You are part of something that was on the page but is now living and breathing in front of you. I've been bowled over by it all my life."

The club was launched in the Theatre Royal, Brighton, after a group of writers decided to adopt it as a regular venue to discuss their work.

New York-based playwright Peter Shaffer, whose plays The Royal Hunt of the Sun, Equus and Amadeus have been adapted to successful films, is the club's president.

Former members include Constance Cox whose Charles Dickens adaptations were the first to be shown on television.

The club regularly reads playwrights' drafts aloud, giving authors a unique opportunity to hear their work off the written page for the first time and work out where improvements are needed.

Judy Upton, from Shoreham, whose plays Sliding with Suzanne, Bruises, and Ashes and Sand, were written for London's Royal Court, joined the club 14 years ago.

She said: "Constance Cox was chairing the group at the time and gave me a lot of encouragement.

"They did a reading of my play Everlasting Rose, which became the first I staged.

"Since then I've won lots of awards, had 18 plays staged and four plays on the radio.

"It's all down to the group's encouragement and the club is still a great place to try out my work."

Although the club is still highly regarded, it now has only 58 members.

Sixty people were expected to attend the club's invitation-only 70th birthday celebrations at Landsdowne Place Hotel, in Hove, yesterday.

Crime novelist Simon Brett, from Arundel, was due to give a talk on writing for the media.